THE 

Spirit- Filled Life 



JOHN. MAC NEIL 



SH - 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap*. Copyright ]N T o._ 

Shell... 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 

SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE 



REV. JOHN MacNEIL, B. A. 

EVANGELIST 

INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. ANDREW MURRAY 
"Be filled with the Spirit."— Eph. v. 18. 



FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY ^ | l 
NewYork Chicago Toronto 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature 



tfV 



k- 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 






Copyright r8qb by 
Fleming H. Revell Company, 



LC Control Number 




c 

6 



tmp96 027960 



\J 



INTRODUCTION. 

I have been asked by the publishers to write a 
few lines introducing this book to American Christ- 
ians. I count it a privilege to be allowed to do so. 

The one thing needful for the church of Christ 
in our day, and for every member of it, is to be 
filled with the spirit of Christ. Christianity is 
nothing except as it is a ministration of the Spirit. 
Preaching is nothing, except as it is a demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit. Holiness is nothing except as it 
is the fruit of the Spirit. These truths are so little 
taught or emphasized as they should be, and the 
blessings they speak of are so little experienced that 
one gladly welcomes every voice that draws at- 
tention to them. 

It is known that all do not perfectly agree as to 
the best answer to the question: How to be filled 
with the Spirit ? Some press that aspect of truth 
which reminds us that the Holy Spirit has been given 
to the church and that He dwells in every believer, a 
fountain of living water. As there have been fount- 
ains clogged by stones and earth, and only needing 
to be cleared and opened up, so we have only to re- 



2 INTRODUCTION* 

move the hindrances, to yield ourselves in perfect sur- 
render to the Spirit in us, and the filling will come. 
We must not ask God for more of the Spirit. God 
asks for more of us that the Spirit may have us 
wholly. 

Others, while admitting fully that the Spirit 
is in the believer, and that He asks for a 
more entire surrender, yet urge that it is from 
God direct that the filling of the Spirit must 
ever still be asked and received. God cannot give 
His spiritual gifts apart from Himself, once for all. 
As the divine and everlasting One, He gives unceas- 
ingly. The Spirit has not been given as if He had 
left heaven. He is in God and in the church. It 
is from God Himself that larger measures of the 
Spirit must ever be sought and received. 

Among those who hold this latter view, there is 
again somewhat of a diversity in the representation 
of truth, On the one hand we are reminded that 
it is " by faith " we receive the Holy Spirit, and that 
faith often has to rest and to act without any con- 
scious experience — has to walk in the dark. Souls 
tha.ta.ve fully surrendered to God are invited to claim 
the promise and then to go and work in the full 
assurance that the Spirit is in them, and will in 
His fullness work through them. On the other 



INTRODUCTION 3 

hand stress is laid on the words " we receive the 
Spirit " by faith. The difference between believing 
and receiving is pointed out, and we are urged to 
wait until we receive what we claim, and know 
that God has anew filled us with His Spirit. " To 
be filled with the Spirit" is offered us as a defi- 
nite, conscious experience. 

With still other Christians there is to be found what 
may be regarded as a combination of these different 
views. They believe that a very definite, conscious 
filling of the Spirit has been received by some, and 
may be had by all. Though from their own ex- 
perience they cannot testify of it, they still look for 
God to do for them above what they have asked or 
thought. Meantime they know that God's Spirit is 
in them, and seek grace to know Him better, and 
to yield themselves to Him more undividedly. They 
believe that the Spirit within them is Himself lead- 
ing them on to the Lord above them, whose it is to 
fill with the Spirit. They have claimed in faith the 
fullness; they have placed themselves to be filled; 
they look to their Lord to fulfill His promise. 
Whether it comes in one swift moment or more 
gradually, they know it is theirs. 

I have written this with an eye to those who 
may not entirely agree with the way in which the 



4 INTRODUCTION 

truth is presented in this little book. I wish to 
urge all, especially ministers of the gospel, to give 
it a prayerful reading. I feel confident it will bring 
them help and blessing. It will deepen the con- 
viction of the great need and absolute duty of be- 
ing filled with the Spirit. It will point out the 
hindrances and open up the way. It will stir up 
faith and hope. And it will, I trust, bring many a 
one to feel that it is at the footstool of the throne, 
in the absolute surrender of a new consecration, that 
the blessing is to be received from God Himself. 

And may this book stir up all its readers, not 
only to seek this blessing for themselves, but to 
cry earnestly, " praying exceedingly day and night," 
"for all Saints " that God may throughout His 
whole church give the Holy Spirit in power. It is 
when the tide comes in, that every pool is filled, and 
all the separate little pools are lost in the great ocean. 
It is as all believers who know or seek this 
blessing begin to pray as intensely for each other 
and all their brethren, as for themselves, that the 
power of the Spirit will be fully known. With the 
prayer that this Spirit-filled book may be greatly 
blessed of God, I commend it to the study of His 

children. 

Andrew Murray. 
London, Dec. i, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGK 

Preface 7 

Introduction— Rev. H. B. Macartney, M. A 11 

CHAPTER I. 
The Starting Point 17 

CHAPTER II. 
Every Believer's Birthright 19 

CHAPTER III. 
A Command to be Obeyed 21 

CHAPTER IV. 

Something Different from the new Birth 23 

Proved from the Case of — 

(1) The Apostles 24 

(2) The Samaritans 24 

(3) Saul of Tarsus 25 

(4) The Ephesians 25 

Unclaimed Deposits 28 

CHAPTER V. 
Everybody's Need 29 

CHAPTER VI. 

Preventive Against Backsliding 31 

CHAPTER VII. 
How Long Between the New Birth and the Fill- 
ing? \ 34 

5 



Q CONTENTS 



PAGE 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Other New Testament Names for "Being Filled 
with the Spirit"— 

(1) Baptized with the Holy Ghost 36 

"Baptized into One Body," What it 

Means 37 

(2) Rivers of Living Waters 39 

(3) The Promise of the Father 43 

(4) Pouring Forth 44 

(5) The Gift 44 

(6) Receiving 44 

(7) Falling 45 

(8) Coming 45 

(9) Sealed 45 

CHAPTER IX. 
How Obtained? (1)Cleanse,(2) Consecrate, (3)Claim. 47 

CHAPTER X. 
Wrong Motives 48 

CHAPTER XL 

Cleansing 49 

A "New Heart" not necessarily a "Clean 

Heart" 50 

What is a Clean Heart? , 54 

Not Sinlessness 55 

Blameless, not Faultless 58 

"i was alone in the twilight* ' 62 

Cleansing a Crisis, not a Process 67 

CHAPTER XII. 
Consecration : What is it ? — 

(1) Sanctification 72 

(2) Surrender 74 

(3) Transference of Ownership 76 

(4) Enthroning Christ 77 



CONTENTS / 

PAOK 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Claiming— 

(1) Prayer 81 

(2) Laying on of Hands 82 

Claiming and Asking 83 

Through Faith the Blessing Made Ours. 84 
Objections Against This 88 

CHAPTER XIV. 
How Does it Come ?— 

Aorist Tense: "Were Filled/' Refilled, 

A Crisis 91 

Imperfect Tense: "Were being Filled,' ' 

A Process 93 

Present Tense: "Full," the Normal Condi- 
tion 94 

Deacons "Full of the Holy Ghost* ' 96 

Illustration of Water Trough 99 

Illustration of Service Pipe * . . .100 

CHAPTER XV. 
Its Effects— 

(1) Courage 104 

(2) Fruit of the Spirit , 105 

(3) Reach the Masses 110 

(4) Persecution 115 

CHAPTER XVI. 
May One Know that He is Filled ? — 

(1) From the Testimony of the Word 117 

(2) The Witness of the Spirit 118 

(3) Signs Following 118 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVII. 
May One Say that He is Filled ?— 

Testifying to Forgiveness., 120 

Testifying to Full Salvation 121 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
May One Lose the Blessing? — 

By Disobedience 122 

By Neglect of the Word 123 

It will be Found Where it was Lost 124 



PREFACE. 



I have written only for the "babes." The " full- 
grown," the "perfect," who may read will kindly 
bear this in mind. A wide and more or less inti- 
mate acquaintance with the Churches of Austral- 
asia has shown me the need for a simple, homely 
talk, such as this little book professes to be. Many, 
oh! so many of God's dear children are living on 
the wrong side of Pentecost, living on the same 
plane as that on which the disciples were living 
before they " were filled with the Holy Ghost;" 
and thus by their lives practically making the sad 
confession, "We did not so much as hear whether 
the Holy Ghost was given," or "whether there 
be any Holy Ghost." The object of this little 
work is to call their attention to their Birthright, 
to the fact that the Fullness of the Spirit is the 
Birthright of every believer. God wants us to be 
living this side Pentecost, not the other side. 



10 PREFACE 

The substance of the following pages has been 
occasionally delivered as a series of afternoon 
Bible Readings in connection with my Mission 
Services. The frequent request that those who 
heard them might have them in a more permanent 
form, coupled with the hope that the great blessing 
that has most graciously been vouchsafed to them 
when spoken, might not be withheld from them 
when being read, has induced me to commit them 
to writing. 

I gratefully acknowledge help received from 
many sources, both in preparing the Bible Read- 
ings, and in preparing them for publication; 
especially do I owe a debt of gratitude to my be- 
loved " fellow-worker in Christ Jesus," who has 
now for many years been u a succorer of many, 
and of myself also," the Rev. H. B. Macartney, 
M. A., Incumbent of St. Mary's, Caulfield. He 
has most kindly revised my MS., penned an in- 
troduction, and encouraged me to publish. 

In u much fear and trembling," because of its 
inadequateness, but with earnest and unceasing 
prayer to Him who has been pleased before to-day 



PREFACE 11 

to " choose the weak things of the world to con- 
found the things which are mighty" — with the 
prayer that He would graciously do so again, I 
send this little messenger forth on its mission, trust- 
ing that the reading of it may be as great a bless- 
ing to every reader as the writing of it has been 
to the writer. 

JOHN MacNEIL. 



INTRODUCTION 

To First Australian Edition. 

Christian reader, I pray that before you finish 
this little book you may become so eager, so in- 
tense in your longings after God, that you will not 
be satisfied until you are really and actually "full" 
of Him, "filled" with the Holy Ghost. 

When the Lord asked Job, in chap, xxxviii. 34, 
"Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that 
abundance of waters may cover thee?" he would 
undoubtedly have answered, No. We, on the 
other hand, with all humility, but without the slight- 
est hesitation, can answer, Yes. "Abundance" is 
the Father's will; "abundant" are the Stores of 
Life in Jesus; "abounding" for ever and ever is 
the Stream of the Spirit's energies. 

We have only to reflect a little till the truth 

flashes, and then the victory is all but won. We 

have only to consider, Who was it that first loved 

13 



14 INTRODUCTION 

us, and called us to be His own children, when 
we were wandering in sin's desert? Who was it 
that first crossed the wild with a cup of living water 
to slake our dying thirst? Who now crosses that 
desert a second time on our behalf with great 
camel loads of wine and milk? What did it cost 
Him to draw that water from Salvation's well, or 
to buy those luxuiies for growth and power? 
What will one healing, stimulating draught ac- 
complish in us and others? How will He grieve 
if we decline to " buy," or hesitate to " drink"? 
What, above all, will be the consequences to His 
glory? Oh, let us arise! Let us " shake ourselves 
from the dust!" Let us drink abundantly, Be- 
loved! There is just now an unutterable need for 
"something more." Single souls are drooping, 
though divinely planted. Churches are full of 
bones, "very many and ver}' dry." The world is 
a jungle, a forest ready for the fire. Men, women 
and children form one vast continent of feeling, of 
ever-increasing sensibility, with an ever-deepen- 
ing, an ever-aching void. Even the Teachers of 
High Truth themselves are not "abundantly satis- 



INTRODUCTION 15 

fied" with the fatness of God's House; they do not 
drink deep enough from the " River of God's 
pleasures/' Yes, there is a thirst not quenched; 
and I am persuaded that we can only quench Im- 
manuel's thirst when mHimwe quench our own. 
Then let us make haste to God ; let us huny to 
the Stream that is "full of water." We cannot 
know what the "Infilling of the Spirit" means un- 
til we are infilled. It is a new experience. God 
is not thereby better seen than before by nature's 
eye, but He is better understood, better loved, bet- 
ter leaned on; that is what He wants, and that is 
enough. 

Perhaps, dear reader, the pathway between you 
and blessing is somewhat hidden, or your eyes are 
dim, or your heart is only beating with a faint 
desire. If so, then carefully read this little book; 
read it beside an open Bible; read it in prayer. 
It may be, through infinite compassion, that it 
may prove a key into the "wealthy place;" it may 
rend the veil, scatter the darkness, lead you to joy 
unspeakable, and — to power! 

I have known the author long, and love him 



16 INTRODUCTION 

much. He is thoroughly trained in theology; he 

is a first-rate preacher; his gospel for sinners is 

as "clear as crystal;" and when you have read a 

little further, you will say the same of his gospel 

for saints! He has penetrated far into the " Secret 

of the Most High," and so can speak from a rich 

experience of his own, to which, however, he 

never refers. 

I cannot but express the hope that this little treatise 
on the "Spirit-filled Life," may not only be widely 
circulated in Australia, but also in England and 
America. It is fresh, it is homely, it is temper- 
ate, it is timely, it is scriptural, it is splendid. It 
sets forth a Promise to be claimed, a Gift to be 
received, a Command to be obeyed ; and it por- 
trays the sequel — more liberty, more peace, more 
devotion, more fellowship with the Son of God in 
His rejection by man, in His fellowship with the 
Father. 

H. B. MACARTNEY, Jr. 

St. Mary's^ Caulfield, 
Victoria^ July 12, 1894.. 



THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE STARTING POINT. 

Reader, are you a B. A, ? This little book is 
only for those who possess that degree from the 
King's College, If you are not u Born Again, 5 * 
please put it aside, for this is our starting point in 
considering the Fullness of the Spirit as the birth- 
right of every believer. If you have not been 
born again you have no right by birth to this, the 
chiefest of New Testament blessings. Your first 
concern is to become one of the children of God, 
and then you may enquire as to your inheritance. 
If you are born again, ask that you may read with 
the anointed eye and with an unprejudiced mind, 
for the amount of prejudice that exists against this 
subject is saddening in the extreme. In nothing 
that he ever wrote does John Bunyan's masterful 
genius flash forth more clearly than when, in 
"The Holy War," he places that old churl, Mr. 
Prejudice, with sixty deaf men under him, as 
warder of Eargate, Nothing that even Emman- 

17 



18 THE STARTING POINT 

uel may say can reach Mansoul while Prejudice 
and his deaf men keep that gate. "There is noth- 
ing about this in the Standards of our Church.' 1 
"I have not met with this truth in my favorite 
authors." "It is quite new to me, and I never will 
believe it," etc., etc. These and such like, are 
illustrations one meets with of how well Prejudice 
keeps his ward! In the name of the Lord let us 
displace him, and determine to give what of God's 
truth may be set forth in the following pages a fair 
field, no favor being asked for. Deep-rooted 
prejudice is one of the causes of the appalling 
spiritual poverty that abounds — yes, appalling 
when we consider the treasures within our reach ! 



CHAPTER II. 

EVERY BELIEVERS BIRTHRIGHT, 

On every hand a lack of something is being felt 
and expressed by God's people. Their Christian 
experience is not what they expected it would be. 
Instead of expected victory, it is oft-recurring, 
dreaded defeat; instead of soul satisfaction, it is 
soul hunger; instead of deep, abiding heart rest, it 
is disquiet and discontent; instead of advancing, it 
is losing ground. Is this all Christ meant when 
He said, "Come unto Me"? Is this life of constant 
disappointment the normal life of the Bible Chris- 
tian? To these sad questionings the Divine Word 
answers with an emphatic u No," and the testi- 
mony of an ever-increasing number of God's chil- 
dren answers u No." 

For this widely felt, though sometimes inartic- 
ulate demand, the Divine supply is the fullness of 
the Spirit; and this Fullness is the birthright 
of every believer, his birthright by virtue of 
his new birth. Sometimes w r e hear it said that 
to be filled with the Spirit is the Christian 

19 



20 EVERY BELIEVER'S BIRTHRIGHT 

privilege; but birthright is a stronger word. 
Reader, it is your birthright to be filled with the 
Spirit, as Peter was filled, as Stephen was filled, 
as the one hundred and twenty men and women 
in the upper room were filled (Acts ii. 4, and i. 
14, 15), as the men and women in Cornelius' 
house were filled (Acts x. 44-47). " And ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for to you is 
the promise, and to your children, and to all that 
are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 39). What have you 
done with your birthright? Have you claimed it? 
Are you living at this moment in the possession 
and enjoyment of it? Or, are } 7 ou, Esau-like, 
" despising your birthright"? (Gen. xxv. 34). 
Or, if not despising, are you neglecting it? Esau's 
eyes were ultimately opened to his folly in parting 
with his birthright for "one mess of meat," and 
he then desired to inherit the blessing, seeking it 
"diligently with tears;" but alas! his awaking 
came too late (Heb. xii. 16, 17). May ever}? 
reader of these lines have the desire graciousty 
awakened (if it has not yet been awakened and 
satisfied), to inherit their birthright blessing, while 
place of repentance is to be found. May the pre- 
diction be fulfilled in our glad experience: "The 
house of Jacob shall possess their -possessions" 
(Obad. 17). 



CHAPTER III. 

a comma::/? to be obeyed. 

But lest some one should think, "It is optional 
with me whether I claim my birthright or not; no 
doubt it would be a very fitting thing for some peo- 
ple to be filled with the Spirit, but / need not 
trouble about it" — in case[any one should be tempted 
to speak and act like this, let us learn that "Be 
filled with the Spirit'' (Eph. v. 18) is a command 
to be obeyed, a duty to be done. Many of God's 
people are acknowledging that they did not know 
that "Be filled with the Spirit" was a command; 
but it is, and there is no excuse for not knowing. 
You will notice that in Eph. v. 18 there is a double 
command, a negative, "Be not drunk," and a posi- 
tive, "Be ye filled." The positive command is as 
authoritative as the negative, and was binding on 
just as many of those Ephesian Christians as was 
the negative command. Now what was true for 
those believers there in Ephesus in the long-ago is 
equally true for all believers on God's footstool to- 
day. Is it a sin for a believer to-day to disobey the 

21 



22 A COMMAND TO BE OBEYED 

command, "Be not drunk"? and is it then a virtue 
to disobey the equally authoritative command, 
u Be ye filled"? If it is a sin for a Christian to be 
drunk, it is just as surely, truly, really, a sin not 
to be filled. We are commanded and expected to 
live a Spirit-filled life, to be filled, not with wine, 
the fruit of the vines of earth, but with the new- 
wine of the kingdom, the fruit of the u true Vine." 
Reader, if you are asked, Do you obey the 
command, "Be not drunk with wine," what is 
your answer? If it is, "Yes," that is obedience. 
Now, if you are asked, Do you obey the com- 
mand, "Be filled w r ith the Spirit," what is your 
answer? If it is, "No," that is disobedience; 
you are guilty of breaking one of God's plainest 
commandments. You have no more license to 
break this command than you have to break any 
command in the Decalogue. Before you read 
further, had you not better confess your sin, and 
tell the Master that you purpose in your heart new 
obedience? 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THE NEW BIRTH 

This being " filled with the Spirit" is a definite 
blessing, quite distinct from being "born of the 
Spirit." It is objected by some that every Chris- 
tian has the Spirit; quite true, for "if any man 
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" 
(Rom. viii. 9); and "no man can say Jesus is 
Lord, but in the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 3); but 
to "have the Spirit" and to be "filled with the 
Spirit" are two different things. "Egypt always 
has the Nile," as some one has said, "but Eygpt 
waits every year for its overflow;" having the 
Nile is one thing, but having the Nile overflow- 
ing is quite another. Now it is the Nile's over- 
flow that is Egypt's salvation, and to overflow it 
must first be filled. So it is the Christian's over- 
flow that is the world's salvation, and in order to 
the overflow there must first be the filling. 

As far as God is concerned, there is no reason 

why this filling should not take place at the hour 

of conversion, of the new birth. See the case of 

Cornelius and his friends, in Acts x. 44-48. They 

23 



24 FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT 

believed, were saved, " received the Holy Ghost," 
and were baptized with water the same day. But 
it were a fatal blunder to assert that all men on 
believing received the Holy Ghost in a similar 
manner, or were thus filled with the Spirit. Most 
certainly in Bible times it was not so. 
/. Take the In Acts ii. 4 we read, "They were all 

Ca Ap°/stlef filled with the Ho] y Spirit," all in the 
themselves, upper room, men and women, including 
the twelve apostles. Now these men had the 
Spirit before. When Christ called them to fol- 
low Him, when they were converted, they received 
the Spirit. After His resurrection, but before His 
ascension, Christ breathed on them and said, 
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John xx. 22), and 
of course they did "receive" the Spirit then; but 
it is never said of them that they were "filled with 
the Holy Spirit" till that morning in the upper 
room, for the simple reason that it could not be 
said of them, for "the Spirit was not } 7 et given" 
(John vii. 39). Yet these men were Christians be- 
fore that morning. 

In Acts viii. S-H w e find that under 

2. Take the ° ° 

case of the the preaching of Philip the evangelist 

Samaritans, . , r ,, . r 

there was a work of grace in the city 01 
Samaria, the people believed and were baptized. 
These people, then, were Christians, but they 
were not "filled with the Spirit" till Peter and 



SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THE NEW BIRTH 25 

John came down and prayed for them, thus per- 
fecting the work Philip had been doing (Acts viii. 

Saul was converted when the omnipo- 

3. Take the . 

case of Paul tent, omnipresent Christ, standing as 
Picket-guard for that little church at Da- 
mascus, unhorsed him, and took him prisoner on 
the Damascus road. "Lord, what wilt Thou have 
me to do?" That question sounds like conversion, 
surely. For three days he lay in darkness in Da- 
mascus, a surrendered, believing man, and there- 
fore a Christian man ; but it was not till Ananias 
came to him that he was " filled with the Holy 
Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). And who was this Ananias 
through whom this man Saul, destined to prove 
himself the truest, bravest, grandest servant the 
Lord Jesus ever had — through whom even Saul re- 
ceived the greatest of the New Testament bless- 
ings? He was an obscure obedient believer, of 
whom we know nothing else than that he did this 
service for Saul. Here is the ministry of the saints. 
So it may be to-day, some big Paul may be blessed 
through the ministry of some little Ananias. 

4. Take the Here were twelve men who were dis- 
EpLsfam'in ci P les > the y had been believers for some 
Acts xix. 1-6. tj me w hen Paul found them; in other 
words, they were saved, they were Christians. 
But Paul's first question to them was, "Have ye 



26 FULLNESS OF THE SPLRLT 

received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" 
Plainly showing that Paul thought it possible for 
them to have been believers and yet not to have 
received the Holy Ghost. Indeed, in this case, 
what Paul deemed a possibility turned out to be a 
fact; they had not yet " received" the Spirit. Of 
course, in a certain sense, they had the Spirit; it 
was by the Spirit they had believed, and if they 
had not the Spirit of Christ, they were none of 
His; but for all that, they had not yet " received" 
the Spirit in the Pentecostal sense of the word, in 
the sense in which Paul meant it. They had not 
yet come to their Pentecost. In the R. V., Paul's 
question is rendered, u Did ye receive the Holy 
Ghost when ye believed?" Proving (i) that it is 
possible to " receive" the Holy Ghost at the mo- 
ment of believing, and (2) that it is possible to be- 
lieve without " receiving," as has already been 
pointed out from the rendering of the A. V. After 
Paul had instructed them more fully in the word 
and way of the Lord, we read that "the Holy 
Ghost came on them." From this we gather that 
these men of Ephesus obtained a blessing subse- 
quent to their conversion, spoken of here as " re- 
ceiving" the Holy Ghost, as the Holy Ghost 
" coming" on them. This is in strict accord with 
what Paul himself says of this event when writing 
to the Ephesians in Eph. i. 13, " After that ye be- 



SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THE NEW BIRTH 27 

lieved, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of 
promise." First they "believed," and then, some 
time after "believing," they were "sealed," they 
"received," they were "filled." From these four 
cases — (i) Apostles, (2) Samaritans, (3) Saul, (4) 
Ephesians — we conclude that in New Testament 
times men actually lived as Christians, were saved, 
converted men, and yet knew nothing of the "Fill- 
ing" with the Spirit — this knowledge,this blessing 
coming to them some time after their being born 
again. Yet this is the very thing some to-day 
deny! Whom are we to believe? These objectors 
or the Sacred Record? The Divine Word de- 
clares it, and there is then no room or need for 
argument. So we affirm that it is equal!}* possible 
for believers, for saved, converted men, to live in 
our own time, as well as in Bible times, without 
the "Fullness;" nay more, it is possible for them to 
live for years, then die and go home to Heaven 
to be there for ever with the Lord, and to have 
known nothing on earth of what it was to be "filled 
with the Spirit." But what a loss they have suf- 
fered! Eternal, irreparable loss! So we conclude 
it is abundantly plain from Scripture, that for the 
regenerate soul there is in Christ another blessing 
over and above the being born of the Spirit, spoken 
of as "the Fullness of the Spirit." "I am amazed 
at a man like you going to these Conventions," 



28 UNCLAIMED DEPOSITS 

said a man to his minister once. " What new thing 
can these Convention speakers tell you? it is all 
in the New Testament." "Yes," he replied, 
" that's the trouble; and we have left these things 
in the New Testament; whereas we want to get 
them out of the New Testament, and into our 
hearts and lives." In Jesus Christ, God's Treas- 
ury, our share fof Pentecost's blessing has been 
deposited for each of us by our Father God. Have 
we claimed and received our share? Not likely, if 
we are not aware that there is such a blessing for 
us; but once we recognize the fact that it is there, 
we surely will not rest till we have made it our own. 
The Scottish bankers have published the fact that 
they have lying in their vaults a sum of £40,000,- 
000 in unclaimed deposits. Some of those who 
owned a share of this money may have died in the 
workhouse; some of them maybe living to this 
moment in direst need, and they might have their 
money for the claiming; but they do not know 
that it is theirs. What vast unclaimed deposits are 
lying in God's Treasury, Christ! Some of His 
people have died spiritually poor; some are living 
to-day in spiritual penury, a hand-to-mouth exist- 
ence, with such "untrackable riches" lying u at 
call," at deposit in their name. What have we 
done with our deposit? We are responsible for 
its use and disuse. Remember! the reckoning 
day is coming (Matt, xxv. 19)* 



CHAPTER V. 

E VER YBOD Y'S NEED. 

Some have the idea that this blessing of the Full- 
ness is only for a favored few, for such as have 
some special work to do for God, but not for ordi- 
nary folk, "for auld wives and wabsters" in their 
homespun. Surely this is one of the devil's 
champion lies! Alas! alas! that it has found such 
credence! The Infilling is what makes this prom- 
ise true, "He that is feeble among them at that day 
shall be as David; and the house of David shall 
be as God" (Zech, xii. 8), so that "one man of 
you shall chase a thousand" (Josh, xxiii. 10). 
This means defeat for the devil, so no wonder that 
he strives to keep us back from the "Fullness"! 
We are here on earth that through us Christ may 
be glorified; but there is only One Person that can 
glorify Christ, and that is the Holy Ghost. "He 
shall glorify Me" (John xvi. 14). To the glorify- 
ing of Christ as He ought to be and might be 
glorified, the filling with the Spirit is necessary. 
Mothers in the home, "with thronging duties 
pressed," need the " Fullness" to enable them to 

29 



30 EVER YBOD Y'S NEED 

glorify Christ as surely as the apostles needed it ; the 
washerwoman needs it as well as the pastor; the 
tradesman as well as the evangelist. To live the 
Christ-glorifying life in the station in which God 
has placed us, we individually need to be filled 
with the Spirit. "They were all filled" (Acts ii. 
4), men and women, the one hundred and twenty 
in the upper room, the rank and file as well as the 
apostles. u Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your 
children, and to all that are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 
39). From Acts viii. 17 we gather that all the 
converts in Samaria, without any favor or distinc- 
tion, u received the Holy Ghost." From Acts x. 
47 we gather that all in the house of Cornelius 
" received the Holy Ghost" while Peter was 
speaking. From Acts xix. 6 we gather that u the 
Holy Ghost came on" all the disciples to whom 
Paul was speaking. They all. r ceived because 
they all needed. Do not we all need? why then 
should we not all receive? And if we do not re- 
ceive we will suffer loss, the Church will suffer 
loss, the world will suffer loss, and, above and be- 
yond all, Christ will suffer loss. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PRE VENTIVE A GAINS T BA CK SLIDING. 

It is most instructive to note how exceedingly 
anxious the early Christians were, that, as soon 
as a man was converted, he should be " filled with 
the Holy Ghost." They knew no reason why 
weary wastes of disappointing years should stretch 
between Bethel and Peniel, between the Cross 
and Pentecost. They knew r it was not God's will 
that forty years of wilderness wanderings should 
lie between Egypt and the Promised Land (Deut. 
i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samari- 
tans, and found that they were really turned to 
God, theiv first concern was to get them filled with 
the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 15). When Ananias 
came to the newly-converted Saul of Tarsus, his 
first word was, " Jesus . . . hath sent me, 
that thou mayest ... be filled with the Holy 
Ghost" (Acts ix. 17). When Paul found certain 
disciples at Ephesus, his first business with them 
was to find out if they had u received the Holy 
Ghost" (Acts xix. 2). These early teachers did not 

wait for a few months or years till the young con- 

31 



32 CAUSE OF BACKSLIDING 

verts had become thoroughly disheartened because 
of the disappointments of the way, thoroughly de- 
moralized by encountering defeats where they had 
been led to expect that they would come off "more 
than conquerors;" neither did they wait until the 
novices had become more established or more fully 
instructed in the things of God; but straightway, 
at once, they introduced them to Fullness of bless- 
ing, taught them the open secret of the overcom- 
ing, ever-victorious life, and they did not leave 
them until the secret was their very own. Has 
modern practice been in accord with apostolic 
practice in this respect? The only possible answer 
is in the negative. Have we improved then on 
the apostolic method? Scarcely. But our modern 
method is very largely responsible for the large 
percentage of backsliding that one meets with in 
the Church to-day. Many of these backsliders 
were soundly converted to God, but unfortunately 
for them, no Peter or John, no Ananias or Paul, 
met them in the beginning of their Pilgrimage to 
compel their attention to the "one thing needful" 
for the people of the Pilgrimage; so they started 
out but ill provided, and after a longer or shorter 
time they became thoroughly dispirited; and then 
asking, "Is this all that is in it?" they threw their 
profession overboard : and one can scarcely wonder 
at it. Prevention is better than cure. Let our 



PREVENTIVE AGAINST BACKSLIDING 33 

young converts be fully instructed and fully 
equipped with the glorious Fullness provided for 
them by the gracious Father,and we will hear less 
about backsliding. Do } 7 ou know why Peter and 
John, Ananias and Paul, spake of the Fullness of 
the Spirit? Because they possessed and enjoyed 
the blessing themselves, and they could not but 
speak of the blessing that had done so much for 
them. Do you know why we have not spoken of 
it to our converts and young Christians? Be- 
cause we did not know of it ourselves! If we "re- 
ceive" the Spirit we will " minister" the Spirit; 
and if we do not " minister," why is it?— but be- 
cause we have not " received." 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOW LONG BETWEEN? 

It is often asked what time must elapse between 
the regenerating by the Spirit and the filling with 
the Spirit? for be it remembered the Filling is as 
real and distinct and definite a blessing as the re- 
generating. Many people know the moment of 
their new birth; they were conscious of the 
change; so also many know when they were 
" filled with the Holy Ghost;" it was a blessed, 
bright, conscious experience, and it is as impossi- 
ble to argue them out of the one experience as out 
of the other. On the other hand, some people do 
not know the time when they were born " again;" 
they simply have come to know by many infallible 
signs that the great change has taken place; so in 

like manner some do not know when the Fullness 

i 

came to them, but they have been gently awaked 
to the fact that " Jesus came, He filled my soul;" 
and such people may be as truly " filled with the 
Spirit" as those who can tell when and where and 
how the blessing came to them. Now as to the 
period intervening between the two blessings, we 

34 



HOW L ONG BE TWEEN? 86 

know that in the case of the apostles in Acts ii. 4, 
three or three and a half years elapsed between 
the day when they heard the " Follow Me," and 
the day when they were " filled;" in the cases of 
the Samaritans in Acts viii. 17, and of the Ephesians 
in Acts xix. 1-7, some weeks; in the case of Saul 
in Acts ix. 17, three days. But as we have already 
noticed in the case of Cornelius and his household 
in Acts x. 44, they were regenerated and filled 
the same day. From this we gather that, as far 
as God is concerned, there is no needs-be for any 
intervening period, but that the believer may be 
"filled" as soon as he is "born again ;" the "Life" 
almost as soon as we get it may blossom into 
"Life abundantly." If we did not "receive the 
Holy Ghost when" we believed, and if we have 
not "received" Him since we believed, and are 
not living now the Spirit-filled life, at whose dooi 
then does the blame lie? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OTHER NEW TESTAMENT NAMES FOR "BEING 
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT V 

That we may see how full the New Testament 
is of this blessing, and that we may the better un- 
derstand what it is and how it is obtained, let us 
just glance at some other terms used by the Holy 
Ghost when speaking of it. 

. , "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy 

/. "Baptized r J 

ivith the Holy Ghost not many days hence"(Acts i. 5). 
See also Acts xi. 16, Matt. iii. 11, Mark 
1. 8, Luke iii. 16, John i. 33. Now, though "bap- 
tized'' and "filled" are sometimes convertible terms, 
it is instructive to note that the}' are not always 
so. The promise in Acts i. 5, "Ye shall be bap- 
tized," was fulfilled in Acts ii. 4, "And they were 
all filled," where "filled" is used for "baptized." 
In Acts iv. 8 we read, "Peter filled with the Holy 
Ghost," and in ver. 31, "They were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost;" where the word "baptized" 
could not be used instead of the word "filled." 
The difference is this: the "baptism" is received 
but once; it is, so to speak, the initiatory rite to 

36 



BAPTIZED AND FILLED 37 

the life of Pentecostal service, and fullness, and 
victory. Life begins at the Cross, but service be- 
gins at Pentecost. If there has been no Baptism, 
there has been no Pentecost; and if no Pentecost, no 
service worth the name. " Tarry until ye be clothed 
with power," said the Master (Luke xxiv. 49); 
"Wait for the promise" (Acts i. 4); u Ye shall be 
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" 
(Acts i. 5); "Ye shall receive power when the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts i. 8). And 
we see that, in compliance with the commands of 
their Master, no service of any kind did these men 
attempt till "the day of Pentecost was fully come" 
(Acts ii. 1). 

"Theirs not to make reply! 
Theirs not to reason why!" 

Their business was simply to obey. With the prom- 
ised "Baptism" they entered upon a new phase of 
life, experience, and service, and this "Baptism" 
need not be repeated; but not so the "Filling." 
Peter was "filled" in Acts ii. 4, again in Acts iv. 
31. The "Filling" may be, and ought to be, re- 
peated over and over and over again; the "Bap- 
tism" need be but once. In support of this, note 
how frequently the word "filled" is used in the 
Acts and Epistles compared with the word "bap- 
tized." The Baptism which we are considering 
here must not be confounded with the baptism in 
1 Cor. xii. 13, the "Being baptized into one body." 



88 CHRIST THE BAPTIZER 

Paul is speaking there of every believer having 
been quickened from the dead by the agency of 
the Holy Spirit, and thus made a member of 
Christ's mystical body. This is a Pauline way of 
stating the being "born again" of John iii. 7. It 
was to those who already had been " baptized into 
one body" that Christ gave the promise, "Ye 
shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" (Acts i. 
5). In view then of this word of Christ, u Ye shall 
be baptized," and of the word of John the Baptist, 
recorded in John i. 29-33, "Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world 
. . . the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy 
Spirit" (the same promise is also recorded by 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it surely cannot be 
unscriptural for a believer — painfully conscious 
that as yet this word has not been fulfilled in his 
experience, that for him as yet the day of Pente- 
cost has not fully come — to pray "Lord Jesus, 
baptize me with the Holy Ghost!" Why should 
this be regarded as unscriptural, when in view of 
the word, "Be filled with the Spirit," the prayer, 
"Lord, fill me with the Spirit," is considered to be 
in accord with Scripture? Surely the one prayer 
in its proper place is as scriptural as the other! To 
know Christ as the Sin-bearer is but half salvation ; 
to know Him also as the great Baptist \§full salva- 
tion. How many there are who know Christ as 



O THER NE W TES TAME NT NAMES 39 

their Sin-bearer who have no experimental ac- 
quaintance with Him as the Baptizer with the Holy 
Ghost! One cannot think that it would be grieving 
to the Holy One that such people should cry for the 
promised Baptism; but then, when it has been re- 
ceived, let us bear in mind the difference, already 
pointed out, between " baptized" and " filled;" that 
now that " the day of Pentecost has fully come," and 
that he has been baptized with the Spirit, he must 
not continue praying for the baptism, for that can- 
not be repeated; whereas he may ask and obtain a 
fresh filling, a refilling with the Holy Ghost every 
day of his life. 

" He that believeth on Me, as the Scrip- 
' of living ture hath said, out of his belly shall 
flow rivers of living water. But this 
spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed 
on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not 
yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified" 
(John vii. 38, 39). One may ask, what is it to be 
"filled with the Spirit"? The Teacher Himself 
makes answer: It is to have "rivers of living 
water flowing" from one's soul. See the univer- 
sality of the promise, "He that believeth on Me;" 
no believer, even the weakest, obscurest, is out- 
side its magnificent sweep, unless by his unbelief 
he puts himself there. This is not a promise for 
the Spiritual aristocracy of the Church, as some, 



40 RIVERS OF LIVING WATER 

with more heat than sense, maintain. Let us have 
done with whittling away the vast Godlike prom- 
ises of the Divine Word, till they come within 
the cramped limits of our poverty-stricken experi- 
ence, and let us set to work in earnest to bring our 
experience abreast of God's promises. This prom- 
ise is for you. Has it then been verified in your 
life and experience? If not, why not? Is there 
not a cause? But note more closely its hugeness, 
its Godlike vastness, " Rivers!" not a tricklet, or 
a babbling brook — by its babbling proclaiming its 
shallowness — or a stream, or a river, but Rivers! 
What Divine prodigality! It is the Brisbane, the 
Clarence, the Hawkesbury, the Murray, the Mur- 
rumbidgee, the Tamar and the Derwent all rolled 
into one— Rivers I By the widest, wildest stretch 
of imagination could it be said of you that " Rivers 
of living water" are flowing from you — u flowing," 
mind you, "flowing"? See the freshness, the 
freedom, and the spontaneity of the service; no 
force-pump work about the flowing of the Rivers; 
none of the hard labor of the "soul in prison" 
(Ps. cxlii. 7). When the "Rivers" begin to flow 
the worker may sell his force-pump; his prayer 
has been answered, "Bring my soul out of prison." 
It is worth noting the gradation in John iii.,iv., 
vii. In John iii. 7 we have "Life" in its begin- 
nings — the new birth. In John iv. 14 we have 



A WELL OF WATER 41 

"Life abundantly" — "a well of water springing 
up/' The secret of the perennial upspringing is 
in the word "drink-e-t-h;" "he that drinketh" — - 
not takes a drink, but drinks and drinks and keeps 
on drinking, is in the habit of drinking — that man 
never thirsts; for how can a man's soul be dry 
and thirsty with a well of water in it? Many peo- 
ple are living in the third of John, — they have 
"Life," but it is not strong and vigorous; they are 
suffering from deficient vitality, — when Jesus wants 
them to be in the fourth, enjoying "Life abun- 
dantly." The difference between the two experi- 
ences is well illustrated in the case of Hagar. In 
Gen. xxi. 14 we read that Abraham gave Hagar 
"a bottle of water" Mid sent her away. As she 
wandered in the wilderness "the water was spent 
in the bottle" (ver. 15). But in ver. 19 "God 
opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." 
There are "bottle" Christians, and there are 
"well" Christians. 'Tis a painful experience 
wandering in the wilderness with an empty bottle 
and a dying child! Alas! that there should be so 
many acquainted with the pain, when all the time 
God wants us to be independent of any bottle, to 
be abundantly satisfied with a well of water with 
in us, fed from the hills of God. He wants us to 
be independent of all but Himself. The "well" 
is in every Christian, though it is not "springing 



42 A WELL OF WA TER 

up" in every one that has it. The very well, on 
the side of which Jesus, weary with His long jour- 
ney from Eternity, once sat, has to-day no thirsty 
men or women coming to it with their empty 
pitchers, for the well is dry. How? why? Be- 
cause so much rubbish has fallen in that the well 
is choked. Clear out the well, and the water will 
spring up again as in Christ's day. So with many 
a child of God. The water is within them, the well 
is there, but it is choked; the water is not spring- 
ing up, and so they are reduced to dependence on 
a bottle! Oh! for an anointed eye in our head to 
see the rubbish, and for grace in our hearts to deal 
with it, to judge it and to cast it out; and then we 
would soon have an eye to u see the well of water." 
May He break every u bottle," and open every 
eye to see u the well." Now let us contrast the 
"well" of the fourth chapter with the " rivers" of 
the seventh. The "well" is for the supply of all 
possible local needs; but since the Christianity of 
Jesus is essentially an unselfish thing, He has made 
ample provision for the supply of surrounding 
needs; " out of him" in whom is the "well" — 
"out of him" who is abundanty satisfied with 
Christ — " shall flow rivers of living water," bear- 
ing life and satisfaction and gladness into the 
abounding death and destitution and dreariness 
that exist on every hand; for "everything shall 



THE PROMISE 43 

live whithersoever the river cometh" (Ezek. xlvii. 
9). Does your Church, your neighborhood feel 
the vivifying, fructifying, refreshing influences of 
your presence? Most certainty, if John vii. 38 is 
your experience; in other words, if you have been 
"filled with the Spirit." But remember we must 
go through the fourth of John to get into the sev- 
enth ! In John iii. we have the Indwelling, in John 
iv. the Infilling, and in John vii. the Overflowing. 
"Wait for the promise of the Father" 
Promise of (Acts i. 4). See also ii. 33, ii. 39, Gal. 

the Father y ••• ^ t 1 : m L 

111. 14, .Luke xxiv. 49. I here are many 
promises in the Divine Word given us by the 
Father; but there is only one promise spoken of 
as" The promise," giving it a pre-eminence among 
all the other "exceeding great and precious prom- 
ises." What that "promise" was is ascertained 
by comparing Acts i. 4, "Wait for the promise," 
with Acts i. 5, "Ye shall be baptized," and Acts 
ii. 4, "They were all filled." To whom does "the 
promise" of the Father belong? surely to all the 
Father's children without favor or distinction. 
Since then "the promise is unto you" the question 
for "you" to settle is, Have you "received" the 
promise? A promise never made use of is like a 
check never cashed, and is of little use to the one 
who gets it. Have you cashed the check? If 
not, why not? the fault is with the child and not 
with the Father. 



44 O THER NE IV TESTAMENT NAMES 

"I will pour forth of My Spirit upon 
+• f*°fi n * all flesh" (Actsii. 17). See also Acts 
ii. 18, Joel ii. 28, 29, Isaiah xliv. 3, Acts 
ii. 33, Acts x. 45. From this expression we may 
learn still more clearly the copiousness of the 
blessing. 

"And ye shall receive the gift of the 

5 ' Ii/*." Uo] y Ghost " ( Acts "• 3 8 )- See also Acts 
viii. 20, Acts x. 45, Acts xi. 17. From 

this expression may we not learn the freeness of 

the blessing? In this connection ponder carefully 

the "how much more" of Luke xi. 13. 



6. ' K Receiv- 



"And they received the Holy Ghost" 
(Acts viii. 17). See also, "Ye shall re 
ceive power" (Acts i. 8); "Have ye re- 
ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" (Acts 
xix. 2); Acts viii. 15, John xx. 22, Gal. iii. 14. 
Floods of light will be thrown upon the whole sub- 
ject if we grasp clearly the full force of this expres- 
sion, "receive." "Receiving" is the correlative of 
"The Gift." A gift will not profit one until it is 
received. It is just here, at the appropriating, 
that we have come short. God has not failed in 
His "giving," but we have failed in our taking, 
in "receiving." "Receiving" is a distinct, definite 
act on our part. Have we "received"? If not, 
w r hynot? God is "giving." 



FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT 45 

"For as yet he was fallen upon none 

,: nf 

mg. 



of them" (Acts viii. 16). See also Acts 



x. 44, Acts xi. 15. From this expression 

may we not learn the " suddenness 1 * 1 with which the 
blessing sometimes comes, and comes consciously, 
too? Compare Acts ii. 2, "And suddenly there 
came from heaven a sound." 

"The Holy Ghost came on them"(Acts 
' ;£?;, xix. 6). See also Acts i. 8, John xv. 26, 
John xvi. 7, 8, 13. From this expression 
may we not learn the -personality of the Holy 
Ghost? "Christ Jesus came into the world," and 
"the Holy Ghost came on them," are two parallel 
expressions. If Christ is here a person, why should 
the Holy Ghost be a mere influence? 

"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit 
9. "Sealed." of promise" (Eph. i. 13). See also 2 
Cor. i. 22. This "sealing" in Eph. i. 13, 
is the "receiving" of Acts xix. 2; the "coming 
on them" of Acts xix. 6; for here, in this epistle, 
Paul is evidently referring to the incident related 
in Acts xix. 1-7. In Eph. i. 13, "In Whom ye 
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, 
the gospel of your salvation : in Whom also after 
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy 
Spirit of promise," we see the successive stages 
through which the Ephesians passed in their spirit- 
ual history, (i) There was a time when they 



46 OTHER NEW TESTAMENT NAMES 

had not heard the Gospel; they were living in the 
darkness of heathenism. (2) Then came the day 
when they " heard the word." (3) Then they "be- 
lieved." (4) Succeeding this they were " sealed," 
" after that ye believed ye were sealed;" a 
very distinct and definite blessing this for the 
Ephesians, as definite as their salvation when they 
believed. And yet, in face of this, some will 
affirm that there is no such thing as a Christian 
receiving a new distinct blessing after his conver- 
sion! If these Ephesians had this experience, 
why may not believers still? 

When a Christian is " sealed" by the Holy 
Ghost, "sealed" as the property of his Master, 
there will be no need to ask, "Whose Image and 
superscription is this" upon the "sealed" one? 
The King's, of course. Any one can see the Image. 
Of what use is a "seal" if it cannot be seen? Is 
the King's Image visibly, permanently stamped 
upon us? It is on every Spirit-filled "sealed" be- 
liever. 



CHAPTER IX. 

HOW OBTAINED? 

We come now to the practical side of our sub- 
ject. Surely the unprejudiced reader, if he has 
not already " received the Holy Ghost," has at 
least come to the conclusion that there is such a 
blessing mentioned in the New Testament, and 
lying in God's Treasury, Jesus Christ, for all 
New Testament believers, and therefore for him — 
for me. Until it dawns on one's consciousness 
that there is such a blessing as " being filled with 
the Spirit," it is not likely that he will trouble* 
about seeking it,and therefore will never obtain it. 
In all fairness these terms which we have just been 
considering— " Filled," " Baptized," " Rivers," 
etc. — mean something. There is some blessing 
represented by the terms, some substance at the 
back of the shadows. God the Holy Ghost knows 
what that blessing is. "Have I got that?" Is 
there anything in my life and experience to cor- 
respond with that? Now comes the question, 
"How am I to get it?" The Bible answer may 
be summarily comprehended in three words — 

CLEANSE, CONSECRATE, CLAIM. 

47 



CHAPTER X. 

WRONG MOTIVES. 

But before proceeding to consider these words, 
it is absolutely necessary that we be on our guard 
against desiring this so needful a blessing from 
wrong motives. We must seek it for one supreme 
reason — for the glory of God. If self is at the 
root of our motives at all, God will most surely 
block our way to Fullness of blessing. If we are 
thinking in our heart of hearts that it would be a 
good thing for us to get this blessing for our own 
happiness or satisfaction, or even that we might 
be more useful, or that in any way we might 
have the pre-eminence, our eye is not single, our 
whole body is not full of light (Matt. vi. 22). 
There is therefore need for the refining fire to go 
through our heart. God must be Alpha and 
Omega in the matter. "For God's glorj 7 , and for 
God's glory alone" must be our watchword as we 
proceed with our search after the Fullness of the 
Spirit. 

48 



CHAPTER XL 

CLEANSING. 

As there are conditions requiring to be complied 
with in order to the obtaining of salvation, before 
one can be justified, e. g. 9 conviction of sin, re- 
pentance, faith ; so there are conditions for full 
salvation, for being u filled with the Holy Ghost." 
Conviction of our need is one, conviction of the 
existence of the blessing is another; but these have 
been already dealt with. " Cleansing" is another; 
before one can be filled with the Holy Ghost, one's 
heart must be " cleansed." " Giving them the 
Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and He 
made no distinction between us and them, cleans- 
ing their hearts by faith" (Acts xv. 8, 9). God 
first cleansed their hearts, and then He gave them 
the Holy Ghost. How can we be filled with the 
Holy Ghost if we are filled with something else? 
The heart must first be emptied and cleansed. The 
milkman has called on his morning round, and 
the housewife hears his call. There is a jug 
standing beside her on the table; it is her own, 
for she purchased it only last week. She picks it 

49 



50 CLEANSING THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE 

up, and looks into it to see if it is clean ; she finds 
it is not. Now she would never think of taking 
that dirty jug for the milk; but she empties it and 
rinses and cleanses it, and then, having wiped it 
dry to her satisfaction, she takes it out for the 
morning allowance. Indeed, if she brought it out 
dirty to the milkman, he would positively refuse to 
put his sweet new milk into it. So a heart may 
belong to God, that is, it may be the heart of a 
Christian man, and yet not a u clean" heart, but 
until it is cleansed God will refuse to put into it 
the precious deposit of the "water of life clear as 
crystal." 
A "New g ut some on e objects, "I thought that 

Heart" not . 

necessarily a when one became a Christian, and was 

"Clean . . 

Heart." made a partaker of the Divine nature, he 
had a clean heart?" Not necessarily. Many, 
many a one is born again, is pardoned and justi- 
fied, and yet has not a u clean heart." "Foigive- 
ness" is one thing, " Cleansing" is another, and 
one may possess the former without possessing the 
latter. For instance, take the case of David in 
Ps. li. He was one of God's people, a restored 
backslider, when he wrote that Psalm. u The 
Lord also hath put away thy sin" (2 Sam. xii. 
13), said Nathan to him. But forgiveness, great 
and sweet as that gift was, was not enough for 
Israel's now so deeply-taught and penitent King. 



THE TWO CLEANSINGS 51 

" Create in me a clean heart" (Ps. li. 10), he 
cries. This is something over and above being 
"born again," over and above and beyond and 
deeper even than " forgiveness" (compare Ps. li. 
2 and Jer. xxxiii. 8). See also the New Testa- 
ment teaching on this point in I John i. 7, "The 
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from 
all sin;" and 1 John i. 9, "He is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness." Is the "cleansing" of verse 7 
the same as the "cleansing" of verse 9? Most 
certainly not. The "cleansing" of verse 7 has to 
do with the guilt of sin, with sin after it has been 
committed; this is the only sense in which the 
Blood of Jesus "cleanses," it washes white as snow 
from the guilt and stain of actual transgression ; 
that "cleansing" is retrospective. Now, this 
"Cleansing" of verse 7 is the "forgiving" of verse 
9; both these words bear on a sinner's Justification. 
But the "cleansing from all unrighteousness" of 
verse 9 is something different from, something over 
and above the "forgiving" of verse 9, or the 
"cleansing" of verse 7; else, if they mean one 
and the same thing, would not the author be 
guilty of tautology? The "cleansing" of verse 9 
is prospective, and refers to holiness of life, to our 
being saved from sin, from sinning. And you 
will notice that it is not the Blood of Jesus that 



52 THE TWO CLEANSINGS 

does this, but Jesus Himself by the exercise of 
His Almighty power. There is a great deal of 
confusion on this point in many minds, a confusion 
fostered, if not begotten, by some of our hymns. 
Powers are sometimes attributed to the Blood of 
Jesus, to the Death of Christ, which belong to Jesus 
Himself, to the living Christ. We are saved from 
sin's condemnation by the Blood, cleansed from 
the guilt of all sin, forgiven on the ground of the 
Blood; and in this connection we cannot possibly 
make too much of the Blood, too much of the 
Death of the Son of God—but we are saved from 
sin's power by Jesus Himself. " Himself (lit.) 
shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. i. 21). 
"We shall be saved by His life" (Rom. v. 10). 
" He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness." The Blood "cleanses" in the sense 
of washing the sin away after it has actually been 
committed; He "cleanses" in the sense of pre- 
venting, restraining from sin. He keeps us back 
from sinning. He "makes us more than conquer- 
ors" over sin; and in this so blessed sense "pre- 
vention is better than cure." How often does a 
mother say to her child when putting on a clean 
snow r -white pinafore in the morning, "Now, my 
darling, do keep it clean!" "Yes, mother," and 
she intends to do so; but alas for her intentions! 
At dinner-time she comes home with her pinafore 



THE TWO CLEANSINGS 53 

about as dirty as she can make it. Now, the mother 
can wash it and make it clean again, as white as 
ever; but it is weary, wearing work, this everlast- 
ing washing. So the Blood of Jesus can cleanse 
from all sin the garments that are brought to it for 
cleansing, and what a deal of cleansing it has to 
do for some of us! 

But wouldn't it be just splendid for many a hard- 
working mother if she could put some power or 
other into her child — her own self, for instance — 
by which the child would be kept from making 
the pinafore dirty at all, so that it would not need 
washing? Wouldn't this be a vast improvement, 
even on making it clean after it has been made 
dirty ? This is just what Jesus does. He puts a 
power within the child that trusts Him — that power 
is Himself,by which the believer is kept from defil- 
ing his garments by any known sin, so that they do 
not need washing. This is to be u cleansed from 
all unrighteousness." But there are whole battalions 
of God's saved, forgiven, and u cleansed" people 
(" cleansed" in the sense of verse 7), who are not 
"cleansed" in this sense (" cleansed" in the sense 
of verse 9), who are not yet saved from the power 
of some besetting (that is, upsetting) sin or other. 
Have we not known some Christian men who, as 
has been well said, are like well-supplied cruet- 
stands? take them which side you like, you will 



54 WHA TIS A CLEAN HEART? 

get something either hot or sour, peppery or vine- 
garish from them! And yet one can scarcely doubt 
their conversion to God! What are we to say of 
these cross-grained or fretful, or worldly-minded, 
or covetous, or pleasure-loving professors of relig- 
ion? One would fear to judge some of them and 
say they were utter strangers to God's regener- 
ating grace; no, but one will say that what they 
sorely need is the " clean" heart. 

The question then arises, What is it to 
aetnHeart? have a "clean heart"? what is it to be 
" cleansed from all unrighteousness"? It 
is to be " saved from our sins," according to Matt, 
i. 21. It is to translate i John iii. pinto practice, 
" Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; 
. . . and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of 
God." It is to have a " conscience void of offense" 
(Acts xxiv. 16). It is to "know nothing against 
myself" (i Cor. iv. 4). It is — in the words of 
another — to be "saved from all known, conscious 
sin." But, it is objected, "That is perfection!" 
(It is amazing how frightened some people are of 
being perfect! It were well if they were equally 
afraid of being imperfect; for it is imperfection 
that grieves God. This dread of perfection has 
been called by some one, "a scarecrow set up by 
the devil to frighten away God's people from the 
very finest of the wheat.") "That is perfection!" 



WHA TIS A CLEAN HEART? 55 

Yes and no. It is the perfection which is not only- 
allowed, but commanded in the Word of God. 
But it is not absolute perfection ; it is not sinlessness. 
Let us look carefully at the expression, u From 
all known, conscious sin;" "From all;" yes, all, 
not some or nearly all, but from" all known sin" — 
known, that is, to us, though not from all known 
to God; from "all known, conscious sin," so that 
one might be able to say, in the language of the 
lowliest of the apostles, "Herein do I also exercise 
myself to have a conscience void of offense toward 
God and men alway" (Acts xxiv. 16); and "I 
know nothing against myself" (iCor. iv. 4); or, in 
the language of the disciple whom Jesus loved, 
"We keep His commandments, and do those things 
that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John iii. 22). 
To have a clean heart, then, is to be saved "from 
our sins," saved from sinning, saved by JESUS; 
note it well! not saved by our own efforts, by our 
watching and praying, and wrestling and fighting 
and struggling, but by Jesus. So it is not a ques- 
tion of what we can do, but of what He can do. 
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 
xviii. 14.) Can He not "guard from stumbling?" 
(Jude 24.) Can He not save from sin, from sin- 
ning? Is not this what is meant when it is said, 
"He is able to save to the uttermost"? (Heb. viL 
25.)" Able to save," as Matthew Poole puts it, "to 



5G NOT SINLESSNESS 

perfection, to the full, to all ends, from sin, in its 
guilt, its stain, its power." Yes, He is just as com- 
plete, as perfect a Saviour from the -power of sin, 
as He is from its guilt and stain. He is equally 
powerful in each department of His saving work. 
But after all is said and done, and one is being- 
saved from all known, conscious sin, saved from 
sinning, that is not to say there is no sin remain- 
ing. We are face to face with the inspired state- 
ment, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves" ( i John i. 8). How much sin may there 
be in us of which we are entirely unconscious, 
but which is naked and open to those "Eyes like 
unto a flame of fire!" (Rev. ii. 18). 

"I know nothing against myself," cries Paul in 
I Cor. iv. 4, "yet am I not hereby justified; but 
He that judgeth (examineth) me is the Lord." 
God may, and does, know r much against me when 
I know nothing against myself; and it is just here 
that our constant need of the cleansing Blood 
comes in. If the Bible doctrine of the clean heart 
meant the eradication of sin, a state of sinlessness, 
that is, absolute perfection, what need would we 
then have of the cleansing Blood at all? Though 
Jesus Christ may have "cleansed us from all un- 
righteousness," so that we "have a conscience 
void of offense," so that we "know nothing 
against ourselves," yet we need the Blood to 



WHA T IS A CLEAN HEAR T? 57 

cleanse from the sins which our eyes fail to detect, 
and of which our conscience takes no cognizance. 
It is failure to see this that has led many astray at 
this point. Having been cleansed and having "no 
more conscience of sins'* (Heb. x. 2), they imagine 
they have no more sin. How superficial is some 
people's idea of sin! How little conception have 
they of the Pauline doctrine of sin! He speaks of 
sin as "exceeding sinful." How subtle it is! how 
far-reaching! In their daring ignorance some 
have actually taken the penknife, like Judah's 
foolish king, and cut a whole petition out of the 
prayer which the Lord taught His disciples. He 
taught them to pray, "Forgive us our debts as we 
forgive our debtors;" but these modern lights in 
their darkness are correcting their Teacher, and 
have cut out that petition, and thrown it away. 
"No need have we to confess our sin, for we have 
none to confess, and therefore we have no debts 
to be forgiven." Poor mistaken people! never 
more need of confession and forgiveness than when 
they are speaking thus! The holiest of men are 
the men who lie the lowest before the Holy One, 
confessing that which they know only too well 
(because the truth is in them), that they "have 
sin," offering the sacrifices with which God is 
ever well pleased, "a broken spirit, a broken and 
a contrite heart" (Ps. li. 17). The nearer we get 



58 BLAMELESS A ND FA UL TLESS 

to Him " whose head and whose hair are white 
as wool, white as snow" (Rev. i. 14), to the 
Ancient of days " whose garment is white as 
snow" (Dan. vii. 9), the more conscious are we of 
the dullness of our whiteness, of the vast difference 
between our whitest and His whiteness; and this 
consciousness humbles one. "What is it to have 
sin? What is sin?" asked a great leader once, 
and he answered his own question thus: "It is 
to come short of the glory of God; and in this 
sense we sin every moment of our lives in thought, 
word, and deed." Is there a man on earth who 
can stand before the infinitely Holy One and say, 
"I do not come short of Thy glory"? Should we 
speak thus, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth 
is not in us." 

We may be helped here by observing the differ- 
ence between the two New Testament words 
"blameless" and "faultless." "I pray God your 
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- 
less (without blame, unblameworthy), unto the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. v. 
23). "To present you faultless (flawless, blemish-? 
less) before the presence of His glory" (Jude 24). 
Now a person or work may be "blameless" and yet 
not be "faultless." This is not verbal hair-splitting 
— by no means. Suffer a personal illustration. I 
have lying on the table beside me a letter, which 



THE CLEAN HEART 59 

will illustrate the point at issue. I received it 
when I was away in New Zealand on a mission 
tour, in 1891, It was from my eldest daughter, 
then a child of five years of age. It reads: "Dear 
father, I wrote all this myself. I send you a 
kiss from Elsie." The fact of the matter is, that 
it is not writing at all, but an attempt at printing 
in large capitals, and not one of the letters is prop- 
erly formed; there is not as much as one straight 
stroke on the page. Why is it that I prize this 
letter and keep it laid up among my treasures? 
Fathers who are as much away from home as I 
am will understand when I say that it was my 
child's first attempt at letter-writing. Now, this 
letter which I prize so dearly is certainly not a 
"faultless" production; it is as full of faults as it 
is full of letters, but most assuredly it is "blame- 
less." I did not blame my child for her crooked 
strokes, and answer with a scold, for I judged her 
work by its motive. I knew it was the best she 
could do, and that she had put all the love of her 
little heart into it. She wanted to do something 
to please me, and she succeeded. By the grace 
of the indwelling Christ (for you will perceive 
that it is His work, "Faithful is He that calleth 
you, who also will do it" — 1 Thess. v. 24), this is 
what our daily life, our daily life-work may be, 
viz., "blameless;" and He can tell us that it is so, 



60 FAULTLESS 

even as I told my child; we may have this testi- 
mony, that we are " pleasing God," as Enoch had 
(Heb. xi. 5). Oh, the joy! Oh, the inspiration 
of this God-given testimony! But what a sad mis- 
take for any who may by grace have been made 
" blameless," to think that they are " faultless," a 
condition which is to be found only "before the 
throne." For it is to be noted that the Greek 
word translated " without blemish," "without 
fault," {amomos) is never used of God's people on 
earth. It is used once of the Lamb "without 
blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. i. T9). Else- 
where of the saints. 

In Rev. xiv. 5, "Without fault before the throne 
of God." 
In Jude 24, "Before the presence of His glory 

without blemish." 
In Eph. v. 27, "That it should be holy and with- 
out blemish," when in the sweet by-and-by 
He will "present the Church to Himself." 
In Eph. i. 4, "Even as He chose us in Him before 
the foundation of the world, that we should 
be holy and without blemish before Him in 
love;" chosen in the past eternity that we 
should be "holy and without blemish" in the 
coming eternity, not here, but there; not now, 
but then; for the word translated "before" is 
the same Greek word (katenopion), translated 
in Jude 24 "before the presence of," 



BLAMELESS 61 

In Col. i. 22, "To present you holy and without 
blemish, and unreprovable before Him." 
Here he is speaking again of our future 
standing, for the word translated "before" is 
the same as in Eph. i. 4. 
"Without blemish" then is sinlessness, having 
no sin. "And if we say (here on earth) we have 
no sin (are sinless — blemishless — faultless — flaw- 
less), we deceive ourselves (but no one else!), and 
the truth is not in us" (1 John i. 8). He that has 
the truth in him knows only too well that he has 
sin in him, though "cleansed from all sin" by the 
blood, and though "cleansed from all unrighteous- 
ness" by the might of the uttermost Saviour. It 
is most instructive and humbling to notice how 
the Spirit of truth has placed that "If we say we 
have (present tense) no sin, we deceive ourselves," 
in between His two statements about the "cleans- 
ing from all sin" and the "cleansing from all un- 
righteousness." 

But though we will never be able on earth to 
say with the truth in us that "we have no sin," — 
that we are without blemish^ yet the whole Bible 
teaches us that we may, in this life, be saved "from 
our sins." (Note the difference between "sin" 
and "sins.") We may be saved from sinning. 
"These things write we unto you, that ye sin not" 
(1 John ii. 1); and this is the condition described 



62 WHAT IS A CLEAN HEART? 

as " blameless," u unreprovable," " without re- 
proach, n 

See i Cor. i. 8; i Tm. iii. 10; Tit. i. 6, 7; 
where the Greek word anegkletos (unreprovable) 
is used. 

Also 1 Tim. iii. 2; 1 Tim. v. 7; where the 
Greek word is anefileftos (without reproach). 

Also Matt. xii. 5, where anaitios (guiltless) is 
used. 

Also 2 Pet. iii. 14, where amometos (blameless) 
is employed. 

Also Lukei. 6; Phil. ii. 15, and iii. 6; 1 Thess. 
ii. 10, iii. 13; and v. 23, where amemftos (with- 
out blame) is the word used. 

These words describe a state or condition of 
heart and life which is not only attainable here, 
but imperative; and the passages we have just 
been reading prove that it has been attained. This 
is what is meant by a clean heart,to be " blameless," 
not "faultless." 

"I was sitting alone in the twilight, 
With spirit troubled and vexed, 
With thoughts that were morbid and gloomy, 
And faith that was sadly perplexed . 

"Some homely work I was doing 
For the child of my love and care; 
Some stitches half wearily setting 
In the endless need of repair. 

"But my thoughts were about the building, 
The work some day to be tried, 
And that only the gold and the silver, 
And the precious stones should abide. 



BLAMELESS AND FA UL TLESS 63 

"And remembering my own poor efforts, 
The wretched work I had done, 
And even when trying most truly, 
The meager success I had won : 

"'It is nothing but wood, hay and stubble/ 
I said; 'it will all be burned; 
This useless fruit of the talents 
One day to be returned; 

"'And I have so longed to serve Him, 
And sometimes I know I have tried; 
But I'm sure when He sees such building, 
He will never let it abide.' 

"Just then as I turned the garment, 
That no rent should be left behind, 
Mine eye caught an odd little bungle 
Of mending and patchwork combined, 

"My heart grew suddenly tender, 

And something blinded mine eyes 

With one of those sweet inspirations, 

That sometimes make us so wise. 

"Dear child! she wanted to help me, 
I knew 'twas tne best she could do; 
But oh! what a botch she had made of it, 
The gray mismatching the blue! 

"And yet, can you understand it? 
With a tender smile and a tear, 
And a half compassionate yearning, 
I feel her grow more dear. 

"Then a sweet voice broke the silence, 

And the dear Lord said to me, 
'Art thou tenderer for thy little child 

Than I am tender for thee?' f 

"Then straightway I knew His meaning, 
So full of compassion and love; 
And my faith came back to its refuge, 
Like the glad returning dove. 



64 WHA T IS A CLEAN HEART? 

"So, I thought, when the Master Builder 
Comes down this temple to view, 
To see what rents must be mended, 
And what must be builded anew; 

"Perhaps >as He looks o'er the building 
He will bring my work to the light; 
And seeing the marring and bungling, 
And how far it is all from right ; 

"He will feel as I felt for my darling, 

And will say as I said for her, 

'Dear child ! she wanted to help me, 

And love for Me was the spur; 

"/And for the great love that is in it 

The work shall seem perfect as Mine;' 
And, because it was willing service, 
Will crown it with plaudit Divine. 

"And there, in the deepening twilight, 

I seemed to be clasping a Hand, 

And to feel a great love constraining, 

Far stronger than any command. 

"Then I knew by the thrill of sweetness, 
'Twas the Hand of the Blessed One 
Which should tenderly guide and hold me, 
Till all the labor is done. 

"So my thoughts are never more gloomy, 
My faith is no longer dim, 
But my heart is strong and restful, 
And mine eyes are unto Him." 

A clean heart then does not mean sinlessness, 
the eradication of sin, that sin is taken out of us; 
for though sin is taken out of the heart that is 
cleansed — for a clean heart must be clean! — yet 
"the flesh," the self-life, remains in the man, " la- 
tent if not patent," ready to manifest itself should 



WHAT IS A CLEAN HEART? 65 

the counteracting power of the indwelling Christ 
the Saviour even for a moment be withdrawn. 
This "flesh" is evil (Rom. vii. 18) and, therefore, 
while "the flesh" is in us "sin" is in us, and hence 
our constant need of the cleansing Blood. As we 
trust for continuous cleansing we get it. "The 
Blood . . . cleanseth" — present progressive 
tense — goes on cleansing, therefore guilt is never 
allowed to gather, for as sin appears the Blood 
cleanses it away and so keeps us clean. Blessed 
present tense! Thus it is possible for us always 
to walk in the Light. 

Then as Christ exercises His counteracting 
power over "the flesh" we are being "cleansed 
from all unrighteousness," delivered from doing 
the "not right," and, by continuous trust in our 
omnipotent Saviour, we may know continuous de- 
liverance, continuous victory over sin; we need 
never know defeat. A Christian mother had just 
kissed good-night to her little daughter, and was 
busy in the dining-room arranging the table for 
dinner, when she heard little feet on the stair. 
Wondering what was the matter, she slipped into 
the window recess and hid herself behind the 
curtains, and waited. Presently the little one 
came into the room, and going straight up to some 
peaches that were on the table, she took one of 
them away with her! Oh, the agony in that 



66 WHAT IS A CLEAN HEART? 

mother heart! She did not speak to her child, but 
standing where she was, she spoke to God her 
Father, and asked Him so fervently to speak to 
her child. God heard that cry, and in a little 
while the sound of the pattering feet was heard 
on the stair again. The child came into the room, 
not knowing her mother was there, and going on 
tip-toe over to the table she put the peach in the place 
from which she had taken it. As she turned 
away with a radiant face, rubbing her hands with 
delight, her mother heard her say, "Sold again, 
Satan! Sold again, Satan!" That's victory! Yes, 
the cleansing means that and more than that. 
"We are more than conquerors," for when Jesus 
cleanses the heart, He cleanses the springs of 
action and being, so that our very desires are puri- 
fied; the desire to sin, the "want to," is taken 
clean away. This is coming off "more than con- 
querors through Him that loved us" (Rom. viii. 
37). Glory to His name! The man now "wants 
to" do the will of God. He "likes" what God 
likes. "I thought you could do what you liked," 
was the taunt hurled by a young man at a friend 
of his who enjoyed full salvation on his refusing 
to go to the theater. "I thought you told me you 
could do what you liked?" "So I can." "Why, 
then, won't you come with me as I asked you?" 
"Because I don't like," was the rejoinder. The 



CLEANSING: A CRISIS 67 

only men on earth who enjoy perfect freedom are 
the men who have clean hearts, for they not only 
know that they ought to do the will of God, but 
they want to do it and they like to do it and more- 
over they have a power that enables them to do it. 
On the other hand, in our jails and hospitals 
you will find people who thought that they could 
do as they liked, but they have discovered that 
they were mistaken . 

But how am I to get this clean heart? 
Cleansing: p eter answe rs, " Cleansing their hearts 

a Crisis. ° 

by faith" (Acts xv. 9). Cleansing is 
God's work, and the condition on which God will 
do His work is "faith" on our part. There is only 
one way of getting anything from God, and that 
is by faith. One obtained forgiveness and the new 
birth by faith, and one obtains cleansing of the 
heart by faith too. You may, you will, get " cleans- 
ing" the moment you definitely trust Christ for it. 
"We aye get what we gang in for" was one of Dun- 
can Mathieson's favorite expressions; and along 
the line of God's revealed will how true it is! If 
you will only venture now on Christ for " cleansing 
from all unrighteousness," He will do it for you 
now. "Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall 
it once be?" (Jer. xiii. 27.) Why not now? for 
"cleansing" is a crisis and not a process; but, as 
Principal Moule, of Cambridge, has very tersely 



68 CLEANSING: A CONDITION OF GROWTH 

put it, " Cleansing is a crisis with a view to a pro- 
cess." It is just here that multitudes of God's 
people miss the track. "Sanctification is the work 
of God's free grace." 1 Of course it is; it is a 
"growth," a gradual process ; but "cleansing" is 
not "sanctification." The latter, in the sense in 
which it is being used here, is a theological term 
embracing all the Spirit's work in the believer 
between the cross and the crown ; but "cleansing" 
is an act. While sanctification is a "growth," 
"cleansing" is one of the conditions of growth, 
and the very reason why some who hold most 
tenaciously by the gradual theory of sanctification 
are "growing in grace" so very slowly, is that 
they have not attended to one of the most essential 
conditions of growth, viz., this "cleansing.'* 
"But," some one objects, "this is not in the Stand- 
ards of our Church?" That may be; but it is in 
the Bible. To quote the words of the saintly Dr. 
Andrew Bonar in another connection, "I believe 
all that is in our Standards, for I find all that is in 
our Standards in the Bible; but I believe more 
than is in our Standards, for I find some things 
in my Bible that are not in the Standards;" for 
the simple and very obvious reason that you can- 
not get a quart into a pint measure. While every 
honest Churchman believes that all that is in the 
Standards of the Church to which he belongs is 
i Shorter Catechism, No. 35. 



CLEANSING: A CRISIS 69 

in the Bible, no one in his sane senses believes that 
everything in the Bible is to be found in the Stand- 
ards. The doctrine of a " clean heart" is one of 
these things. 

In support of the statement that " cleansing" is 
a crisis, an act, something done in a moment, just 
as conversion is, and not a " process" drawn out 
indefinitely before one can reach a state of " cleans- 
ing," let us ponder well David's prayer, in Psalm 
li. 10, " Create in (margin, for) me a clean heart." 
Is creation an "act" or a "work"? Is it a "crisis" 
or a "process"? All the Creator had to do was 
to speak the word and Davd's prayer was granted; 
he then could turn his prayer into thanksgiving; 
"I thank Thee for having created in me a clean 
heart;" but he could not thank God for what he 
had not received. Giving thanks for the clean 
heart would prove that it was in his possession. 
Note also that heart "cleansing" is God's work 
alone. We are exhorted to "cleanse ourselves 
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit" (2 
Cor. vii. 1), which simply means "separation* 
from all the palpable, manifest evils Paul had just 
been enumerating, such as "yoking with unbe- 
lievers," "unrighteousness, "darkness, "Belial," 
"infidel," "idols," "unclean things" (vide 2 Cor. 
vi. 14-17). In reference to all such things God 
says "cleanse yourselves." The aorist tense is 



70 CLEANSING, GOD'S WORK 

used in the original, denoting a definite, decisive 
act; " separate from these things at once and be 
done with them." And where are we to get the 
enabling power? In effect, God says, u Draw a 
check on ME; draw on My resources for all you 
need," for all God's commandings are God's 
enablings. But when it comes to be a question of 
cleansing the " heart," the inner being, the springs 
of action, that part of the man where the affections 
and the will are seated, God undertakes that Him- 
self; He says, " Bring that to Me." If this work 
were left to us it would indeed be a u process" 
slow and tedious, and progress might be made, as 
it so often is, alas! backward. But now the ques- 
tion is, — not what can the believer do by his efforts 
to overcome indwelling sin, but what can the Al- 
mighty God do? It is not a question of our power, 
but of His. 

u, Twas most impossible of all, 
That here sin's reign in me should cease; 
Yet shall it be! I know it shall : 
* Jesus, look to Thy faithfulness : 

If nothing is too hard for Thee, 
All things are possible to me." 

He is able and willing to " cleanse." Are we 
willing to be cleansed? 

Another mistake to be carefully guarded against 
is this, making " cleansing" to be an end instead 
of a means to an end. u Cleansing" is not the 



CLEANSING, GOD'S WORK 71 

blessing that we are seeking; it is only a means. 
The end is the " Filling of the Holy Ghost." 
" Cleansing" is a negative blessing, the separating 
from sin ; but we can only be satisfied with a posi- 
tive blessing. When the housewife cleans the 
house, does she then go out and live in the yard ? 
Not so. She cleans the house that it may be the 
more fit for her to inhabit. God cleanses, " emp- 
ties, sweeps, and garnishes" (Matt. xii. 44), that 
He may come in to dwell; and if He, the Holy 
One, does come in and take up His abode, He 
will keep His dwelling place " clean." This 
u cleansing" of which we have been speaking is 
one of the steps into the Blessed Life; but there 
is not much likelihood of any one living the Life 
unless they first take the necessary steps into the 
Life. It is a Life of Purit}', and it is lived, as it 
is entered upon, by faith in the Son of God; 
hence the name by which the Spirit-filled Life is 
sometimes called — the Life of Faith, 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONSECRATION: WHAT IS IT? 

The second step that must needs be taken by 
those of us who have been living without the Full- 
ness, before it can be obtained, is Consecration, a 
word that is very common and popular; much 
more common and popular, it is feared, than the 
thing itself. In order to be filled with the Holy 
Ghost one must first be "cleansed," and then one 
must be "consecrated." Consecration follows 
cleansing, and not vice versa. Intelligent appre- 
hension of what consecration is, and of what it 
involves, is necessary to an intelligent consecration 
of oneself. 

Consecration is another word for sanc- 
/. ^^^-tification Many people have a confused 
idea as to what sanctification really is. 
It must be borne in mind that we are not consider- 
ing the theological term sanctification, but the use 
of the New Testament word " sanctify," " sancti- 
fication." No one would confound " consecration" 
with " cleansing," and yet many confound " sanc- 
tification" with " cleansing." To " sanctify" is to 

72 



SANCTIFICATION 73 

purify, to cleanse, to make holy, they tell us. 
But the idea of purification, of cleansing, of sepa- 
rating from sin, is not in the N. T. word " sanc- 
tify" at all. "The very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly" (i Thess. v. 23). That does not 
mean "purify" you, separate you from sin, as a 
glance at two other passages, in which the same 
word occurs, will show. "For their sakes I sanc- 
tify Myself" (John xvii. 19). "Sanctify in your 
hearts Christ as Lord" (1 Pet. iii. 15, R. V.), 
where it cannot mean purify, separate from sin. 
In these passages its true meaning is very appar- 
ent — to "set apart for a holy use," to "separate to 
God," to "consecrate." To "cleanse" is to sep- 
arate from sin, but to "sanctify" is to separate to 
God, to set apart for God that which has already 
been separated from sin. We cannot set apart to 
a holy use (consecrate) that which is not cleansed. 
Hence we see why it is that "cleansing"must pre- 
cede sanctification or consecration, "that He might 
sanctify it, having cleansed it" (Eph. v. 26, R. 
V.). "Sanctification" is not identical with 
"cleansing," but it is its complement. "We have 
been sanctified through the offering of the body of 
Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. x. 10). "Where- 
fore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people 
through His own blood, suffered without the gate" 
(Heb, xiii. 12). From these passages we gather 



74 SURRENDER 

that it is by the Blood of Jesus we are sanctified, 
set apart to God. This is another function of the 
precious Blood, in addition to the one we have al- 
ready been considering, viz., cleansing from the 
guilt of sin. 

"In conversion," says Dr. Chalmers, 
2. Surrender si q & gives to me, but in consecration I 
give to God." Every one knows that con- 
version should have experimental acquaintance 
with consecration. 

"In full and glad surrender, 
I give myself to thee." 

Consecration, then, involves surrender — total, 
absolute, unconditional, irreversible. This is Paul's 
teaching in Romans: "I beseech you therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God, which is your reasonable service" 
(Rom. xii. i). These people had already given 
their souls to God, and now the apostle insists on 
their giving their u bodies" too. "Yield (R. V., 
Present) yourselves unto God as those that are 
alive from the dead" (Rom. vi. 13). Life first, 
then sacrifice. Have we life in Christ? Then it 
is imperative that we "yield," "present" ourselves 
unto God. It is not a matter of individual choice 
or taste or convenience; but every one that has 
been quickened from the death in trespasses and 



SURRENDER 75 

sins is commanded, yes, commanded, to "pre- 
sent himself to God." Have you obeyed this 
command? If not, why not? God excuses no one. 
Had it not better be attended to now? Yes, be- 
fore you read another line! 

It follows as a corollary that if we yield our- 
selves, we yield everything else to God; nothing 
is withheld. What loss we suffer because we will 
holdback some little thing! A little child was 
one day playing with a very valuable vase, when 
he put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. 
His father, too, tried his best to get it out, but all 
in vain. They were talking of breaking the vase, 
when the father said, "Now, my son, make one 
more try; open your hand and hold your fingers 
out straight, as you see me doing, and then pull." 
To their astonishment the little fellow said, "Oh 
no, pa; I couldn't put out my fingers like that, for 
if I did, I would drop my penny." He had been 
holding on to a penny all the time! No wonder 
he could not withdraw his hand. How many of 
us are like him! Drop the copper, surrender, let 
go, and God will give you gold. 

Now let us note that the verb translated "yield" 
(Rom. vi. 13) and "present" (Rom. xii. 1) is not 
in the present tense in the original, as if Paul said 
"be yielding," "keep presenting," but it is in the 
aorist tense, the general force of which is a defi- 



76 TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP 

nite act, something done and finished with. So 
that when the command, " Present yourself to 
God," is complied with as far as one's light goes, 
the person is entitled to regard the transaction as 
a completed act, and to say, "Yes, I have pre- 
sented myself to God." Then Faith presses on 
the heels of that statement and says, "God has ac- 
cepted what I have thus -presented" It is abso- 
lutely necessary that Faith be in lively exercise 
on this point, for what will be the practical out- 
come of all my presenting if I do not believe that 
God takes what I give? "Him that cometh unto 
Me I will in nowise cast out" is just as appropri- 
ate to the saint seeking full salvation as to the 
sinner seeking pardon. It is failure here, failure 
to apprehend by faith the fact that God receives 
what I present, that has blocked progress for so 
many of God's people who are truly desirous of 
living consecrated lives. From this it will be 
seen that consecration is a crisis in the life of the 
believer, just as cleansing is, and not a process; 
but it, too, "is a crisis in order to a process." 
j. Transfer- Consecration implies and involves 
mceofOwn- transference of ownership. Many a 
ership* Christian is living to-day as if he were 
his own; but the consecrated heart endorses the 
statement of the Divine Word: "Ye are not your 
own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore 



ENTHRONING CHRIST 77 

glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which 
are God's" (i Cor. vi. 19, 20), The consecrated 
man looks upon himself as the absolute property 
of the Lord who bought him, and his whole life is 
lived in the light of this fact. 

Consecration involves the "glorifying" 
4 ing%hr°ht. ^ Christ, the "enthroning" Him, the 
crowning of Jesus u Lord of all" in our 
own heart and life. " Crown Him, crown Him, 
Lord of all;" u and," says Dr. Hudson Taylor, 
"if you do not crown Him Lord of all, you do not 
crown Him Lord at all" This view of consecra- 
tion, with its accompanying results, is beautifully 
illustrated for us in John vii. 38, 39, "He that be- 
lieveth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of 
his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But 
this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe 
on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet 
given; because Jesus was not yet glorified." The 
flowing forth of the rivers — just the outflow, the 
overflow of the infilling Spirit — was dependent on 
Jesus being " glorified." Jesus had not yet reached 
the throne, and so the Spirit had not yet been 
given. The reason why they had not come to 
Pentecost was that as yet there was no Ascension. 
Ascension preceded Pentecost. Let us learn it by 
root of heart, that every Pentecost since the first 
has, in like manner, been preceded by an As- 



78 ENTHRONING CHRIST 

cension. Do we know Pentecost experimentally 
for ourselves? If not the reason is close at hand. 
Jesus has not been " glorified" by us, not enthroned 
in our hearts. He may be in the heart, He may 
even be in the throne room, but He has not been 
placed upon the throne! There has never been a 
coronation da} r in our lives, when "in full and 
glad surrender" we placed the crown on the many- 
crowned Head, crying, "Crown Him, crown Him, 
Lord of all!" "And he showed me a river of 
water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of 
the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. xxii. 
i). When Christ reached the throne at the 
Father's right hand, from underneath His throne 
the river began to flow, the Holy Ghost was given, 
His Church received her Pentecost. "Being by 
the right hand of God exalted ... he hath 
poured forth this" (Acts ii. 33). So when Christ 
is "exalted," "enthroned," "glorified" in the be- 
liever's heart, from underneath His throne will the 
rivers begin to flow according to promise; but, no 
Ascension, no Pentecost; and let us remember, as 
has been already stated, that though life begins at 
the Cross, service does not begin till Pentecost. 
No Pentecost, no service worthy of the name! 

We need not be concerned as to how the rivers 
are flowing from us, or troubled as to what chan- 
nels they are flowing in. They flowed from Peter 



ENTHRONING CHRIST 79 

in one way, and from Paul in quite another, and 
from Barnabas in yet another; there are infinite 
"diversities" of ways. We need not trouble at all 
about the rivers, and the direction of their flow; 
our concern is to " glorify Jesus," to see that He 
is on the throne; and it becomes His business then 
to see that the rivers are flowing; and there is not 
the slightest danger that the blessed business with 
which He charges Himself will be neglected! 

There are other aspects of consecration in the 
Divine Word which have not been touched upon, 
but enough has been said for our purpose to show 
what it is, and what its blessed results will be. 
Our life and service will be enriched beyond tell- 
ing by enthroning Christ. This, of course, in- 
volves the breaking of all our idols, for He will 
not share His throne with any. When Mahmoud, 
the conqueror of India, had taken the city of Gu- 
jarat he proceeded, as was his custom, to destroy 
ihe idols. There was one, fifteen feet high, which 
its priests and devotees begged him to spare. He 
was deaf to their entreaties, and seizing a hammer 
he struck it one blow when, to his amazement, from 
the shattered image there rained down at his feet 
a shower of gems, pearls and diamonds — treasure 
of fabulous value, which had been hidden within 
it! Had he spared the idol he would have lost all 
this wealth. Let us not spare otir idols. It is to 



80 ENTHRONING CHRIST 

our interest to demolish them. If we shatter them 
there will rain about our hearts the very treasures 
of Heaven, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; 
but if we spare our idol we will miss riches un- 
searchable. 

The consecrated life is a Christ-centered life, 
the only truly-centered life; ever}'' other life is 
eccentric: yet how often do we hear worldly peo- 
ple or worldly-minded Christians (what a contra- 
diction in terms!) criticising some devoted Spirit- 
filled man or woman as "so eccentric," simply 
because of their loyalty to Christ their King! 
when all the while it is the critics that are "eccen- 
tric," — off the true center. Indeed, so eccentric 
did the first Spirit-filled band appear, that "others 
mocking said, they are filled with new wine;" so 
they were "full of new wine," the "new wine" of 
the kingdom. And in God's sight these drunken, 
eccentric men were the only truly-centered spirit- 
ually-adjusted men in the throng. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CLAIMING. 

Having considered the two conditions necessary 
to being filled with the Spirit, viz., the cleansing 
of the heart, and the consecration of the cleansed 
heart to God, we come now to the very practical 
question — How is this Fullness to be obtained by 
the cleansed and consecrated believer? Before 
proceeding to consider the answer, " Claim it," let 
us notice what the Divine Word has to say about 
(i) prayer and (2) laying on of hands in connec- 
tion with the obtaining. 

"How much more shall your Heavenly 

1. Prayer, J 

Father give the Holy Spirit to them that 
ask Him?" (Luke xi. 13.) This promise is given 
to God's children. It is the dearest wish of the 
great Father-heart of God that His children should 
be filled with His Spirit. Who has a fathoming 
line long enough to sound the depths of that "how 
much more"? You "ask;" Father " gives." What 
is the next step? Why, of course, you "receive!" 
else all Father's "giving" will be of no avail. 

"When they had prayed . . . they were 
all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts iv. 31), 

Si 



82 LA YING ON OF HANDS 

" Prayed for them, that they might receive the 
Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 15). 

" Tarry" (Luke xxiv. 49). "Wait" (Acts i. 4) 
— not idling, but praying, pleading the promise. 
"These all with one accord continued steadfastly 
in prayer" (Acts i. 14). 

"They were all with one accord in one place, 
and suddenly" the answer came! (Acts ii. 1.) 
So in obtaining the blessing of the Fullness, 
prayer has its place. 
2 Laying on "Then laid they their hands on them 

of hands. anc j the} 7 (the Samaritan converts) re- 
ceived the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 17). 

"Then when they had fasted and prayed, and 
laid their hands on them, they sent them away" 
(Acts xiii. 3). Barnabas and Saul were men who 
were already full of the Holy Ghost, but by the 
laying on of hands (it is probable that hands had 
been laid on these men before this) they received 
a fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost, a fresh 
equipment for special service, and thus they 
were set apart for the work to which the Holy 
Ghost was calling them. 

"And when Paul had laid his hands upon them 
(the men of Ephesus), the Holy Ghost came on 
them" (Acts xix. 6). 

"They laid their hands on them" (the deacons) 
(Acts vi. 6). 



CLAIMING 83 

" Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was 
given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the 
hands of the presbytery" (i Tim. iv. 14). 

"Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through 
the laying on of my hands" (2 Tim. i. 6). Jt is 
quite evident that lajnng on of hands was no mean- 
ingless ceremonial in the primitive Church. Is 
there any reason why it should ever be an empty, 
barren form in our own day? 

We come now to examine the answer given to 
the question — How is the Fullness of the Spirit to 
be obtained? — viz., " Claim it." It must be borne 
clearly in mind that we are dealing now with a 
cleansed and consecrated soul. If you are not 
"cleansed," attend first to the cleansing. If you 
are not consecrated, attend at once to the conse- 
crating, and then (but not till then) will you be 
able to profit by what will be said about the claim- 
ing of the blessing. Do we appreciate the im- 
mense difference between " claiming" and u ask- 
ing"? I " claim" that which is mine own ; I "ask" 
for a favor. For instance, if a man has a credit 
balance of $250 in his current banking account, 
and draws a check for $50, he does not re- 
quire to go to the manager and "ask" for $50; 
he presents his check and "claims" it, for it 
is his own. But supposing that same man is 
in need of an advance of $500; he goes into 



84 CLAIMING 

the manager's room, and "asks" for the favor of 
a loan. No "claiming" now! So it is often with 
the Christian and his God. When God gives him 
a definite promise for some definite blessing, it is 
the Christian's privilege to "claim," to "receive" 
by faith the thing promised. If God tells him a 
certain blessing is his by virtue of his sonship, it 
is his to "claim," to "receive" what through grace 
has been made his own. There is no "asking" 
needed here, that is "asking" in the sense of say- 
ing — "Lord,z/*it be Thine holy will, give me this." 
Where is the room for an "if"? Has not God told 
him it is His will? — has He not promised it? — has 
He not given it to him? Why, then, should he 
mock his Lord by saying, "If it be Thy will"? 
But supposing, on the other hand, that that man 
wants something which God has not expressly 
promised to give, something in reference to which 
He has not revealed His will; all the Christian 
can do in this case is to "ask"; he cannot "claim;" 
and God may give him what he asks, or He may 
see that it will be for the best to refuse His child's 
request. A Christian may want $250, and may 
"ask" his Father to send it to him, and God may 
give or withhold. But if a Christian man wants to 
be filled with the Holy Ghost,he need be in no doubt 
as to the issue here, he may "claim" the Fullness, 
for has not God promised it? Is not this blessing 



THE DOUBLE BLESSING 85 

his very own? His birthright by virtue of his new 
birth? Let us learn then clearty to distinguish be- 
tween " claiming" as an act of faith based on an 
express promise in the Word, and "asking" as a 
request in prayer. That the Fullness of the Holy 
Ghost is one of the blessings which it is our privi- 
lege to "claim," to " receive" by a simple act of 
faith, is abundantly clear from the Book of God. 
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, 
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that 
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gen- 
tiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive 
the promise of the spirit through faith" (Gal. 
iii. 13, 14), The double purpose of Christ's re- 
deeming work, of His being made a curse for 
us, is here plainly stated. He was " cursed" that 
we might be blessed with a double blessing — 
(1) with "the blessing of Abraham," that is, right- 
eousness, justification; and (2) with "the promise 
of the Spirit." How many of God's children for- 
get the second blessing! — they think that if they 
are saved from wrath and justified, that that is all! 
— but that is only half salvation; full salvation con- 
sists in receiving the promise of the Spirit in addi- 
tion to being justified. Have we overlooked this 
fact? Have we been stopping short at half salva- 
tion? Those who are not living the "Spirit-filled 



86 TAKE IT 

life" are making void to a most alarming extent, 
as far as they are concerned, the work Christ ac- 
complished on the tree. Christ died that we might 
be made the righteousness of God, and that we 
might be filled with God. As God holds the sinner 
guilty who neglects so great salvation, and rejects 
the offered righteousness, so He holds the justified 
believer guilty who neglects the second blessing 
which Christ purchased with His Blood, viz., the 
offered "promise of the Spirit." 

But note well how Paul tells us this latter bless- 
ing is to be made ours; it becomes ours "by faith." 
No one doubts how we receive the blessing of 
Abraham (righteousness, justification); all are 
agreed that it is u by faith." "Being justified by 
faith" (Rom. v. i). But how blind we are to 
see, how slow to take it in, in spite of the plain 
declarations of Scripture, that u the promise of the 
Spirit" is in like manner received u by faith!" 
The Holy Ghost is the "gift" of the Father, and 
of the Son (Luke xi. 13). This "gift" is received 
"by faith." There is the whole matter in a nut- 
shell. Of all the sublime things in God's sublime 
Book there is surely not a sublimer than this, 
that a cleansed and consecrated believer may by 
simple faith here and now claim and receive the 
Fullness of the Spirit — the greatest gift that even 
the exalted Christ has in His power to bestow 



RECKONING 87 

upon His people. u Be filled with the Spirit," saith 
the Holy Ghost. Note that the command is in the 
passive voice, u Be filled," that is, "Let yourself 
be filled." The Fullness is pressing in upon you, 
only let it in! Receive it, and it is yours! Have 
yoic got it? If not, deal with the Lord about it at 
once, somewhat after this manner, "Lord Jesus, 
Thou dost command me to be filled with the Spirit. 
I take Thy command and make it my prayer, 
'Lord, fill me with Thy Spirit.' Thou hast told 
me that 'all things whatsoever ye pray and ask 
for, believe that ye have received them, and ye 
shall have them' (Mark xi. 24). It is Thy desire 
to fill me ; it is my desire to be filled. I have made, 
'Lord, fill me,' the prayer of my heart. I claim 
the Fullness. I believe for it. I receive it now 
by faith. I have received it. I have it. It is 
mine. Lord, I thank Thee for filling me, even 
me, with Thine Holy Spirit." And the blessed 
business is done! It is yours to believe, to receive. 
It is His to fill. Go on your way now, reckoning 
that you are filled, and God will make the reckon- 
ing good. It is yoti7's to keep believing. It is 
God's to keep yon filled. Stagger not at the prom- 
ise of God through unbelief, but be made strong 
in faith, giving glory to God. Some object to 
this quick, almost instantaneous, and easy way of 
receiving this greatest of the New Testament 



88 UNBELIEF THE HINDRANCE 

blessings. But every objection urged against re- 
ceiving the Fullness of the Spirit in this way, ap- 
plies with equal, if not greater force to a sinner 
receiving the pardon of his sins when he comes to 
God at the first. It is always in grace that God 
deals with the sinner,and justifies him the instant he 
believes in Jesus. It is always in grace that God 
deals with the justified one, and fills him with the 
Holy Ghost the moment he receives the Fullness 
by faith. Eternal life is the gift of God, and all 
the sinner has to do is to take it. The Holy Ghost 
is a gift, and all God's child has to do is to take 
it. But some will still object, and say that it is 
necessary to spend some time " waiting" on God 
for the Fullness before we can get it. A night of 
prayer, or a half night at least, a more or less pro- 
tracted season must thus be spent before we can 
hope to receive the blessing we desire. Of course 
not one word can be uttered against spending sea- 
sons of prayer bj r day or by night in waiting upon 
God. We have the example of the Man of Prayer 
Himself before us in this. But this much must be 
said, that many a one has spent whole days and 
nights and weeks in earnest crying to God for the 
infilling of the Holy Ghost, and all in vain. All 
in vain ? Why ? How ? Because of unbelief. If 
you want to fill a corked bottle with water, and 
take it to a running tap, but neglect to remove the 



RECEIVIXG 89 

cork, how long will you have to wait holding it 
under the tap before it is filled? Remove the 
cork, and the bottle is running over in a few 
seconds! Many a one has cried and waited, and 
waited and cried for the Fullness of the Spirit, but 
the stopper of unbelief has been in their empty 
hearts, and so no wonder that they did not get 
what they wanted! Of what avail will all God's 
" giving" be if a man does not " receive"? God 
cannot give and receive too! But some one may 
still object, and, in proof of his contention that we 
must " wait" for the filling of the Holy Ghost, 
point to the case of the disciples, who continued 
in prayer for ten days, waiting for the promise of 
the Father. Quite true that they u waited;" but 
it must be remembered that that prayer meeting 
was ante-pentecostal; we live in post-pentecostal 
days; they were waiting for the Spirit to come 
from Heaven. "The Spirit was not yet given." 
We have not so to wait. He has come, He has 
been given, and all we have to do is to receive 
Him. We have read of Christ's coming into the 
world and of His leaving it. We have read of 
the Spirit's descent, but we do not read of His 
ascension. A Christian man came to me once 
and said — expecting a word of encouragement and 
approval — "I have been seeking that blessing for 
over thirty years." u Brother, it's nearly time 



90 RECEIVING 

you got it then!" was the swift rejoinder. For 
all these years during which the man was crying, 
"Give, give, give!" God was saying, u Take, 
take, take! Receive, receive! for I do give!" 
If I heard my little girl of three years old crying 
piteously for a piece of bread, knowing that she 
must be very hungry, and having the bread by me 
would I tell her to cry on for another hour and 
that then I might attend to her wants? u How 
much more," oh! "How much more will your 
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask Him?" But what if, in spite of her crying 
and of my offering, she would not take the bread 
I offered, but still went on with her crying, 
"Father! oh, father! do give me a piece of bread, 
I am so hungry!" You silly child! Oh, how 
many silly children has the Father in His family, 
crying year in and year out, "Give, give!" and 
Father all the while yearning over them and say- 
ing, "Take, take, My child!" Let some of us 
give over crying and set to work "receiving." 
Take and thank! Receive and thank! "That we 
might receive the promise of the Spirit through 
faiths 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOW DOES IT COME? 

How does the Filling of the Spirit come? 
"Does it come once for all? or is it always com- 
ing, as it were?" was a question addressed to 
me once by a young candidate for the Baptism of 
the Holy Ghost. There are many asking the same 
question. We have considered how the Fullness 
is obtained, but now we proceed to consider, 
How does the Fullness come? In speaking of the 
blessing of being filled with the Spirit, the New 
Testament writers use three tenses in the Greek — 
the Aorist, the Imperfect, and the Present. Each 
of these tenses has a different shade of meaning. 
The inspiring Spirit has employed these different 
tenses for a purpose, and it will be to our profit to 
try and get at that purpose, to note the differences, 
and to learn His meaning. 

(i) The Aorist tense — a tense to which the Eng- 
lish language is a stranger — denotes generally 
" a sudden, definite act of the past," " something 
done and finished with" — "They were filled" 
— as in Acts ii. 4. 

n 



92 THE A ORIS T TENSE 

(2) The Imperfect tense, denoting, as in Eng- 
lish, just what its name implies — "They were 
being filled" (literally) — as in Acts xiii. 52. 

(3) The Present tense, also denoting, as in Eng- 
lish, just what its name implies — "Full," 
the normal condition — as in Acts xi. 24. 
The following are the passages in the Acts in 

which the various tenses are found: — 
(1) Aorist: — 

Actsii. 2, "It filled all the house." 

Acts ii. 4, "They were all filled." 

Acts iv. 8, "Peter filled with the Holy Ghost." 
Peter was already "filled," in ch. ii. 4. 

Acts iv. 31, "And they were all filled with the 
Holy Ghost." Peter was again amongst them . 
Peter received an "Aorist" filling in ch. ii. 
4, again in ch. iv. 8, and yet again in ch. iv. 
31. So that an "Aorist" filling may be re- 
peated and repeated again and yet again. On 
both occasions — ch. iv. 8 and ch. iv. 31 — 
there was special need, and to meet this special 
need, Peter received a fresh and special and 
definite "filling" of the Holy Ghost. From 
this we learn that to equip us for every new 
important or difficult service to which we may 
be called, the Lord Jesus is prepared to grant 
us a fresh Infilling, a "refilling" of the Holy 
Ghost; and that these "refillings" may be, and 



THE IMPERFECT TENSE 93 

ought to be, repeated just as often as the need 
arises. We see it reported twice in one chapter 
that Peter was ^refilled." It will be noted that 
for the reasons already mentioned, 1 the ex- 
pression "a fresh Infilling of the Holy Ghost," 
or "refilling," is used instead of "received 
a fresh Baptism of the Holy Ghost." 

Acts ix. 17 (Saul), "And be filled with the 
Holy Ghost." Saul was not to begin his life 
work until "baptized" — "filled with the Holy 
Ghost." He must receive the very same 
blessing and equipment as the other apostles 
received at Pentecost. This was Saul's Pen- 
tecost, and for him, as for others, service be- 
gan at Pentecost. 

Acts xiii. 9, "Paul filled with the Holy Ghost." 
The man who was filled in ch. ix. is "filled" 
anew in this passage, the "Aorist" blessing 
is repeated, fitting him for the special work 
on hand, viz., administering that scathing re- 
buke to Elymas the Sorcerer. In all these 
passages the blessing is spoken of as a crisis, 
not as a process. 
2) Imperfect: — 

Acts xiii. 52, "And the disciples (lit.) were be- 
ing filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." 
This is the only passage in the Acts where 
the Imperfect tense is used. It is not the 

j. Page 39, 



94 THE PRESENT TENSE 

Aorist " were filled," but the Imperfect " were 
being filled," implying the inflow, not only 
to make up for, but to sustain, the outflow. 
The same idea of the u Imperfect" is seen in 
Eph. v. 18, "Be filled with the Spirit," where 
Principal Moule points out that the Greek verb 
rendered u be filled," may with equal correct- 
ness be rendered "Be y e filling w\\\i the Holy 
Ghost." The preceptive verb "is in the 
Present or continuing tense ;it enjoins a course, 
a habit," so that in this sense " the Fullness" 
is always coming, it is spoken of as a process, 
not as a crisis. 
(3) Present: — 

Acts vi. 3, "Look ye out therefore, brethren, 
from among you seven men of good report, 
full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we 
may appoint over this business," men whose 
normal condition was "full" of the Holy 
Ghost. It is well w r orth noticing the business 
for which these "deacons" were wanted; they 
were to look after temporal affairs, to feed a 
few decent old Greek widows; and yet even 
for this business the men must be "full of the 
Holy Ghost!" None other need apply. How 
far has the Church of to-day strayed from 
apostolic practice! When an election of office- 
bearers is taking place nowadays, of men, say, 



UNEQUAL YOKING 95 

to manage the temporal affairs of Christ's 
Church, who ever thinks of looking out for 
u men full of the Holy Ghost"? Many a man 
is elected to office in the Church of the Living 
God who "has not the Spirit of Christ" at 
all — who is therefore not a child of God, 
much less "full of the Holy Ghost." "He is 
a man of social position, a man of means; if 
he is not full of the Holy Ghost, he is at least 
full of this world's goods, and you know he 
will be a pillar in our Church." Yes, as 
some one has well remarked, he will be a 
eater-pillar I The Church of the New Testa- 
ment does not need pillars of that kind. The 
Church of Jesus Christ and His apostles does 
not require to be propped up by children of 
the devil. What right have we to ask an 
"alien," a man who is "without Christ," 
"having no hope and without God in the 
world," to assist in managing and controlling 
Father's House? Such was not apostolic 
practice. "Be ye not unequally yoked to- 
gether with unbelievers" (2 Cor. vi. 14). 
What an amount of unequal yoking there is in 
many of our Churches, although the Church's 
Lord expressly forbids it! "Thou shalt not 
plough with an ox and an ass together" (Deut. 
xxii. 10). 



96 THE PRESENT TENSE 

Who is responsible for this unequal yoking? 
Is it not the Church members that elect these 
men and put them into office in the Church 
of God? Church members, beware! next 
time offices are to be filled in your Church, 
whether they have to do with the temporal 
affairs or with the spiritual, remember apos- 
tolic advice, "Look ye out from among you 
men full of the Spirit." When we get back 
in this matter to apostolic practice, we may 
hope to get back apostolic blessing, but not 
till then. 
Acts vi. 5, "Stephen, a man full of faith and of 
the Holy Spirit." In those brave days of old 
it was a case of demand and supply. Wanted 
— seven men full of the Holy Ghost; and im- 
mediately they were forthcoming! Is the 
trouble nowadays in the demand or in the 
supply? In both. The demand for Spirit- 
filled men is very slack; but even if the de- 
mand revived to-morrow, how lamentably 
few in our Churches could be found bearing 
the trade mark as "up to sample!" Still there 
are not wanting signs of revival in both de- 
mand and supply. Let us remember that 
Stephen's companions were men full of the 
Holy Ghost, although Stephen is the only one 
of whom it is expressly stated. He was the 



HO W DOES IT COME? 97 

most remarkable man of the seven, a man in 
whom the graces of the Spirit shone with con- 
spicuous brightness. So mighty was his faith 
that special mention must needs be made of 
it. It is not sufficient to describe him as a 
man full of the Holy Ghost, but it must be 
stated that he was "a man full of faith and of 
the Holy Ghost." Faith was his outstanding 
grace. 

Acts vii. 55, "He being full of the Holy Ghost." 
This was Stephen's normal condition right up 
to the very end of his life; it was true of him 
when we get our first glimpse of him, true 
also as he passes within the vail into the un- 
speakable glory. 

Acts xi. 24, Barnabas u was a good man and full 
of the Holy Ghost." A good man indeed, and 
so full of the Spirit of God that there was no 
room for self; for we read that he came into 
the midst of a great revival, in the bringing 
about of which he had no hand, and instead 
of being filled with envy at the divinely-chosen 
instruments, instead of picking holes in the 
work and depreciating the whole movement, 
he was filled with gladness; we read that he 
u was glad" (ver. 23). It goes without say- 
ing that that man was u full of the Holy 
Ghost." How many there are nowadays who 
are not like Barnabas! 



98 HOW D OES IT COME ? 

Having now considered the passages in which 
the various tenses are used, we are able to answer 
the question — How does the blessing come? Does 
it come once for all, or is it always coming? There 
are sudden definite "fillings," repeated with more 
or less frequency; times when the believer is con- 
scious of being "filled," when he can say, "I was 
filled." Between this experience — "filled" (which 
is an "Aorist" blessing) — and that which should 
be the normal experience of every Christian, viz., 
"full" (which is a "Present" blessing), it is evident 
that there is a great gap; but God has graciously 
bridged the gap for us; the connecting link be- 
tween the " Aorist" were filled, and the "Present" 
full, is the "Imperfect" u zvere being filled" so 
that the blessing is always coming. Does it come 
once for all? A thousand times No! — if by that 
is meant that we are reservoirs into which the 
Fullness is poured, so that once we are filled, we 
are independent of fresh supplies from the Lord 
Jesus. That surely were a curse instead of a bless- 
ing! What reservoir is there that does not need 
replenishing? Some Christians say that at times 
after some piece of service has been finished, they 
feel as if they were empty, as if their souls had 
been quite drained, and now they are dry and 
thirsty. It need not be so. It is not so with the 
Spirit-filled worker whose faith is in lively exer- 
cise, for he is "being filled" all the time. 



ALWAYS FULL 99 

In driving between Melbourne and my home I 
often stop at a wayside trough to give the horse a 
drink. I notice that the trough is quite full of 
water and that there is a box in one end of it. As 
the horse drinks the water is lowering, and pres- 
ently I hear a sound as of a running tap. Yes, the 
sound is coming from the box. That box is cover- 
ing a piece of mechanism that needs explaining. 
Within it there is a tap connected by pipes with 
the Yan Yean Reservoir up in the Plenty Ranges. 
Attached by a lever to the tap is a metal ball, 
which rests on the surface of the water. As the 
horse drinks, the water on which the ball is float- 
ing is lowered, and thus the ball is lowered; the 
lowering of the ball opens the tap and the Yan 
Yean begins to pour in ; so that, although the 
water is being withdrawn by the thirsty animal, a 
fresh supply is being poured in, the trough is u be- 
ing filled," so that it is always "lull." Thus may 
it be with the soul of the believer. No matter 
what the outflow into the surrounding emptiness 
may be, or the withdrawals by thirsty, needy souls, 
there is the continual inflow, so that there may be 
the constant "Fullness." Indeed the outflow de- 
pends directly on the inflow; one can onty give as 
he gets. It is ours to see to the connection be- 
tween us and the infinite Reservoir away up among 
the hills of God being kept open, to see that the 



100 THE OVERFLOW 

tap is kept in proper working order by faith and 
prayer and meditation, and then, one might almost 
say, automatically, the heart will be kept full, 
" filled with all the Fullness of God," no matter 
what the spiritual drain upon us ma} 7 be; for now 
it is not a question of our capacity to contain, but 
a question of God's infinite supply for all our 
needs. This too is the explanation of the " over- 
flow," the flowing "Rivers" of John vii. 38. It 
is the overflow, and only the overflow, that blesses. 
There is not a drop for thirsty souls till some one 
overflows. It is the overflow in the Sabbath School 
class, and in the pulpit, and, for that matter, in 
ever} 7 other sphere of Christian service, that brings 
blessing; and this overflow is in direct proportion 
to the inflow. " Rivers" cannot flow out unless 
" Rivers" first flow in. 

An ordinary service pipe in our domestic water 
supply may serve to illustrate some of the points 
we have been considering. We take a bucket to 
the tap for water, and lo! there is none. Some- 
thing is wrong. Either the authorities have cut 
off our supply because of some infraction of the 
law on our part, or there is an obstruction in our 
service pipe, or the pressure is insufficient to give 
us even a drop, or the supply is so deficient that it 
has been shut off for a time from us that it may be 
sent in another direction. Sometimes, alas! the 



HOW DOES IT COME? 101 

"flowing" of the "living waters" from the soul of 
the believer ceases; but the ordinary round of duty, 
either in the district visiting, or in the Sabbath 
School class, or in the pulpit, has not ceased; a 
ceaseless stream of talk may still be flowing on, 
but there is no "living water" in it alL Why? 
It is not that the pressure aback of us, the pressure 
in the infinite Reservoir away up among the hills 
of God, is insufficient, or that the supply is defi- 
cient, unable to meet our needs because it is supply- 
ing needy ones elsewhere, God's water supply 
never breaks down as we often find our city sup- 
ply failing. If the "flowing" has ceased, it is 
from one of two reasons: either God has, in mercy 
and in judgment, cut off the supply, or there is an 
obstruction in us, and sin is at the bottom of both 
reasons. "Search me, O God . . . and see 
if there be any way of wickedness in me" (Ps. 
cxxxix. 23, 24). "Confession, cleansing" is the 
divinely-appointed method for putting right what 
has gone wrong. 

Sometimes on going to the tap we find that there 
is water, but such a miserable dribble! either from 
insufficient pressure or some partial obstruction in 
the pipe, or perhaps it is because we have not 
opened the tap fully. What a wretched parody 
of the flowing "Rivers" of John vii. 38 are the 
life and service of many of the Christians of to day ! 



102 OBS TR UCTIOtfS 

Some of the "living water" is doubtless coming 
from them, but it is only percolating through, 
dribbling, trickling out of them. Why? Cer- 
tainly not, as has been already remarked, from 
insufficient pressure; the fault, the failure is not 
on God's side, but there is some local obstruction 
— amounting in many a case to almost entire ob- 
struction, — some little idol or other in our heart, 
if not a "sin," yet certainly a "weight" (Heb. xii. 
i), and this hinders the outflow. Confession and 
cleansing are still God's remedy. Or the hin- 
drance may be our unbelief, "limiting the Holy 
One of Israel;" opening the tap but a little in- 
stead of opening it full ; expecting little when we 
were divinely authorized to expect much; refusing 
to obey the command, "Open thy mouth wide, 
and I will fill it" (Ps. lxxxi. 10). "Rivers" can- 
not flow through a heart full of unbelief. 

Sometimes, again, on going to the tap we get a 
little water and a great deal of air. What a noise! 
Now air is a very good thing in its own place, but 
that is not in a water pipe; that is meant to con- 
vey water and nothing else, and for the water pipe 
to do its work, it is necessary that it be emptied 
and cleansed of everything else, even of air. 
Scripture hath said that some things "puff up," 
and there is a good deal of "puff" in some hearts 
through which the living water is supposed to be 



HO W DOES IT COME? 103 

flowing. God be merciful unto us! Such hearts, 
like our water pipe, need emptying and cleansing. 
Yet once more, on going to the tap, we find a 
splendid supply; the pipe is clean, the pressure is 
good. Now before we open the tap the pipe is 
full of water; when the tap is opened and the 
bucket filling, the pipe is still full, for although 
the water is pouring out at the tap, it is pouring in 
at the reservoir, so that the pipe is keft full, even 
though the tap is open and the water streaming from 
it. When the tap is shut, you cannot say any more 
about the pipe now than that it is still full of water. 
Even so may it be with the believer who is spiritu- 
ally adjusted, When resting at his Master's feet he 
is iuli ; when actively engaged in service he is still 
full; his normal condition is, "full of the Holy 
Ghost," because he has learnt how to obey the 
command, "Be ye filling with the Spirit." 



CHAPTER XV. 

ITS EFFECTS. 

Among the effects and benefits which in this 
life accompany and flow from being filled with 
the Holy Ghost, may be mentioned the follow- 
ing:— 

Coura e u Oh 9 I could not do so and so — I have 
not the courage," is a reply frequently 
made by Christian people when asked to under- 
take some piece of service or other for the Mas- 
ter. The first point to be settled is, u Is that the 
Master's will for me?" If so, lack of courage is 
a confession to the lack of the " Fullness of the 
Hoty Ghost." The Spirit-filled man knows the 
fear of God and knows no other fear. 

Acts ii. 14, " Peter, standing up with the eleven, 
lifted up his voice and spake forth." No fear of 
servant maids now! But can this be the man who 
quailed before the look of the waiting-maid who 
charged him with being "with the Nazarene"? 
Can this be the man that " began to curse and to 
swear, I know not this man of whom ye speak"? 
The very same, and yet not the same; for the Bap- 

104 



ITS AFFECTS 105 

tism of the Holy Ghost has changed Peter the 
craven-hearted into Peter the lion-hearted, so that 
he can stand before that surging multitude, their 
hands dyed crimson in his Master's blood, and 
without a tremor charge home upon them the aw- 
ful crime, "Him ye did crucify and slay." 

Ch. iv. 13: "They beheld the boldness of Peter 
and John." 

Ch. iv. 31: "They spake the word of God with 
boldness." 

Ch. v. 20: "Go ye and stand and speak in the 
temple." Taken out of prison, and ordered to go 
and do again the very thing for which they had 
been imprisoned! But they were Spirit-filled men, 
and so we read in the next verse, "they entered 
into the temple." 

Ch. v. 29: "We must obey God rather than 
men." 

Ch. v. 40-42: "Beaten . . . departed re- 
joicing . . . ceased not to teach." 

Ch. xxi. 13: "I am ready not to be bound only, 
but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the 
Lord Jesus." Courage-filled because Spirit-filled! 
2. The fruit The fruit of the Si)irit will be mani- 

ofthe J J r 

spirit, jest in the life\ Love, Joy, Peace, etc. 
(Gal. v. 22, 23). How can one's life be filled 
with the fruit of the Spirit, unless one's heart is 
first filled with the Spirit Himself? In the primi- 



106 FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 

tive Church the men and women were filled with 
the Holy Ghost; that was the rule; now, alas! it 
has come to be the exception — and as a conse- 
quence we see how their lives were enriched by 
the fruit of the Spirit. 

Love: Acts iv. 32, "Were of one heart and 
soul . . . had all things common." This 
may be poor political economy, but it is good 
spiritual economy, a simple Bible illustration of 
the Bible precept, "Lay up for yourselves treasure 
in heaven" (Matt. vi. 20). If brotherly love were 
abroad to-day, how soon the present distress would 
disappear! As the best available commentary on 
this heavenly word "Love," study on your knees 
the whole of 1 Cor. xiii. 

Joy: Acts ii. 46, "They did take their food 
with gladness and singleness of heart, praising 
God." Every meal was a sacrament. The same 
cause would produce the same result to-day. 

Ch. v. 41: "Rejoicing that they were counted 
worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name," when 
some of us would have been bemoaning ourselves 
and complaining of the hardness of our lot! 

Ch. xiii. 50-52: "Stirred up a persecution 

and the disciples were (being) filled with 
joy." 

Ch. xvi. 25: "Paul and Silas were praying and 
singing hymns unto God." The heavier the trib- 



FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 107 

ulation the more their joy seemed to " overflow" 
(2 Cor. vii. 4), and of course the heavier the 
tribulation the more joy they needed to sustain 
them. "For the joy of the Lord is your strength" 
(Neh. viii. 10). 

Peace: Acts vi. 15, "Saw his (Stephen's) face 
as it had been the face of an angel." 

Ch. vii. 59, 60: "They stoned Stephen, call- 
ing upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my Spirit, and he kneeled down, and . 
fell asleep." 

2 Cor. iv. 8, 9: "Troubled on every side, yet 
not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; per- 
secuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not 
destroyed." 

Thus we might go through the heavenly list — 
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance — and see how richly in Bible 
times the fruit flourished in the lives of those who 
were Spirit-filled. Before passing on let us notice 
where it is that Joy grows. It grows between 
Love and Peace. It is, as some one has well 
called it, a sheltered fruit. If Love withers, Joy 
is exposed on that side, and it too will fade. If 
Peace is interfered with, even though Love is vig- 
orous, Joy is exposed on that side now, and it will 
fade away and die. The only way to preserve 
Joy in vigorous growth is to see that its sheltering 



108 RESULTS OF THE FULLNESS 

fruits, Love and Peace, are kept free from blight, 
and vigorous too. 

In his letter to the Ephesian Church, to whom 
he addressed the command, "Be filled with the 
Spirit," Paul points out very clearly what the re- 
sults of the Fullness will be. 

(i) A singing heart (Eph. v. 19). This is 
what would bring us and our lives up to concert 
pitch. We would no more go "flat." This would 
drive away the leaden dullness. 

(2) A thankful heart (ver. 20). Such a heart 
would not be finding fault with Christ's govern- 
ment; will "find none occasion of stumbling in" 
Jesus (Matt. xi. 6); will not be offended at Him, 
no matter how He may test and try it. "Blessed 
is he" that has such a heart in his bosom! 

(3) A submissive heart (Eph. v. 21), "in low- 
liness of mind each counting other better than 
himself" (Phil. ii.3). "The thing (once) impossible 
shall be." 

(4 Spirit-filled wives will be in subjection to 
their own husbands (Eph. v. 22). 

(5) Spirit-filled husbands will love their wives 
as Christ loved the Church (ver. 25). 

(6) Spirit-filled children will obey their pa- 
rents (Eph. vi. 1). 

(7) Spirit-filled fathers will not provoke their 
children to wrath (ver. 4). 



RESULTS OF THE FULLNESS 109 

(8) Spirit-filled servants (bond-slaves) will be 
obedient to their masters (ver. 5). 

(9) Spirit-filled masters will treat their serv- 
ants as they (the masters) would wish to be treated 
by their Master (ver. 9). 

Would not results (8) and (9) be the best possi- 
ble solution of the constantly recurring Labor 
and Capital difficulty, and render a labor war im- 
possible, because unnecessary? 

(10) Spirit-filled men will be strong in the 
Lord, spiritual giants, not sickly, hunchbacked 
dwarfs (ver. 10). 

(11) Spirit-filled men will be warriors, clad in 
the whole armor of God; if not Spirit-filled they 
could not carry it (ver. 11). 

(12) Spirit-filled soldiers will not be warring 
against flesh and blood; internal foes having all 
been subdued, the civil war has ceased; their 
enemies are now external, and they are free to con- 
centrate all their attention and God-inspired ener- 
gies on them. Their enemies are (1) in the world 
— principalities and world-rulers, and (2) in the 
hea!venlies — powers and spiritual hosts of wicked- 
ness (ver. 12). 

(13) Spirit-filled men will be praying always 
in the Spirit (ver. 18). In order to this vigilance 
is necessary " watching thereunto." 

Such are some of the results, on the positive 



+ 



110 REACHING THE MASSES 

- % 

side, of being filled with the Spirit. The effects 
on the negative side are manifest in Gal. v. 16, 17, 
"Walk in (by) the Spirit, and ye shall not Julfill 
the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against 
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; for 
these are contrary the one to the other: that ye 
(walking by the Spirit) may not do the things that 
ye would" (if ye were walking by the flesh). 
(See Gal. v. 19-21.) 

Another effect of a Spirit-baptized 
S \h?m™™ g Church would be that the masses would 
be reached. See how the early Church 
— which was a Spirit-baptized Church, and per- 
sistently kept that truth in the foreground — 
reached the masses, and with what blessed results! 
They were not amused or entertained, but they 
were converted, saved, turned to the Lord. 

"There were added unto them in that day about 

three thousand souls." Acts ii. 41. 
"The number of the men came to be about five 

thousand" Acts iv. 4. 
"Added to the Lord multitudes both of men 

and women." Acts v. 14. 
"The number of the disciples multiplied in 
Jerusalem exceedingly, and a great com- 
pany of the priests were obedient to the 
faith." Acts vi. 7. 
"The multitudes (in Samaria) gave heed with 



RESULTS OF THE FULLNESS 111 

one accord unto the things that were 
spoken." Acts viii. 6. 
11 And all that dwelt at Lydda and in Sharon saw 
him, and they turned to the Lord." Acts 

ix. 35- 
" It became known throughout all Joppa; and 

many believed on the Lord." Acts ix, 

42. 
" While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy 

Ghost fell on all them which heard the 

word." Acts x. 44. 
"And the hand of the Lord was with them: and 

a great number that believed, turned unto 

the Lord." Acts xi, 21. 
"And the next Sabbath almost the whole city 

was gathered together to hear the word 

of God." Acts xiii. 44. 
"And so spake that a great multitude both of 

Jews and of Greeks believed." Acts xiv. 1. 
"And when they had preached the gospel to 

that city, and had made many disciples." 

Acts xiv. 21. 
" The churches . . . increased in number 

daily." Acts xvi. 5. 
"These that have turned the world upside down 

are come hither also." Acts xvii. 6. 
"Crispus. . . believed , . , and many 

of the Corinthians hearing believed." 

Acts xviii. 8. 



112 REACHING THE MASSES 

"So mightily grew the word of the Lord and 
prevailed." Acts xix. 18-20. 

We often hear of discussions on the "lapsed 
masses." "Why have the masses of the people 
lapsed from the Churches?" Perhaps the more 
correct way of putting it would be, Why have the 
Churches lapsed from the masses? The answer 
is not far to seek — because they have lost the driv- 
ing power which alone could keep them abreast of 
the masses, even the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
The conditions were just as unfavorable in the 
first century as in the nineteenth, and yet we read, 
"So mightily grew the word of the Lord and 
prevailed." It is positively painful to see the 
substitutes that are being tried to-day for the 
power of the Holy Ghost. Miserable substitutes 
are they all! One Church is trying this plan, an- 
other that, and not one of them has found a new 
plan that is a permanent success. They are floun- 
dering, and some of them are foundering, and no 
wonder. It will be no loss to the kingdom of God 
if Churches which ignore the Holy Ghost should 
founder. Let us get back to Pentecostal methods. 
The trouble is that the Churches have lost their 
way to that "upper room." Let a Church only 
find her way back there and obtain her Pentecost; 
let pulpit and pew be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire^ and the people will come 



RESULTS OF THE FULLNESS 113 

running in to see the burning. That Church will 
not need to cater for amusements as a bait to 
catch the masses, but the people will come crowd- 
ing into her pews, climbing into them as Zac- 
chaeus climbed into the branches of that sycamore 
tree when he wanted to see the Lord; for the peo- 
ple still want "to see Jesus," and they have heard 
that He is "to pass that way." We cannot im- 
prove on Pentecost's methods for reaching the 
masses. 

Persem- ^ et anot h er effect of the Fullness of 
Hon, t h e Spirit must be mentioned, viz. , Perse- 
cution. 
"Others mocking said, They are filled with 

new wine." Acts ii. 13. 
"They laid hands on them and put them in 

ward." Acts iv. 3. 
"Let us threaten them." Acts iv. 17, 
"They laid hands on the apostles and put them 

in public ward." Acts v. 18. 
"And were minded to slay them." Acts v. 33. 
"They beat them and charged them not to 

speak." Acts v. 40. 
"And seized him and brought him into the coun- 
cil." Acts vi. 12. 
"And they stoned Stephen." Acts vii. 59. 
"And there arose on that day a great persecu- 
tion," Acts viii. I. 



114 RESULTS OF THE FULLNESS 

"^aling men and women committed them to 

prison." Acts viii. 3. 
"Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter 

against the disciples of the Lord." Acts 

ix. 1. 
"Took counsel together to kill him." Acts ix. 23. 
"They went about to kill him." Acts ix. 29. 
"Killed James the brother of John with the 

sword." Acts xii. 2. 
"He put him (Peter) in prison." Acts xii. 4. 
"Stirred up a persecution against Paul and 

Barnabas." Acts xiii. 50. 
"Made them evil affected against the brethren." 

Acts xiv. 2. 
"To treat them shamefully and to stone them." 

Acts xiv. 5. 
"They stoned Paul." Acts xiv. 19. 
"Commanded to beat them (Paul and Silas) 

with rods." Acts xvi. 2,2. 
"Cast them into prison, . . . and made their 

feet fast in the stocks." Acts xvi. 23, 24. 
"Set the city on an uproar." Acts xvii. 5. 
"Stirring up and troubling the multitudes." 

Acts xvii. 13. 
"Opposed themselves and blasphemed." Acts 

xviii. 6. 
"Rose up against Paul, and brought him before 

the judgment seat." Acts xviii. 12. 



PERSECUTION 115 

" Speaking evil of the way." Acts xix. 9. 

" Filled with wrath." Acts xix. 28. 

"No small stir concerning the way." Acts 

xix. 23. 
"A plot was laid against him by the Jews." Acts 

xx. 3. 
"So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man 

that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver 

him into the hands of the Gentiles." Acts 

xxi. 11. 
"And laid hands on him." (Paul was never 

free after this.) Acts xxi. 27. 
"As they were seeking to kill him." Acts xxi. 

"Beating Paul . . . bound with two chains 
. . . into the castle." Acts xxi. 32, 

33, 34- 

"It is not fit that he should live." Acts, xxii.22. 

"Bound themselves under a curse, saying that 
they would neither eat nor drink till they 
had killed Paul." Acts xxiii. 12. 

"They delivered Paul . . to a centurion." 
Acts xxvii. 1. 

"From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I 
bear branded on my body the marks of 
Jesus." Gal. vi. 17. 

All this makes lively reading in this peaceful, 
easy-going day of ours; and yet the world has not 



116 PERSECUTION 

changed in its attitude or feeling towards God and 
the things of God. But a most palpable change 
has taken place somewhere. The change, alas! 
is in us, in the people of God; a change that is 
not for the better. We have lost that which 
brought these men into direct collision with the 
world, and with its ways, even the Fullness of the 
Spirit. Only let a man in our day seek and ob- 
tain the blessing that made these men mighty for 
God, and he will soon find that the world has not 
changed, and that the " Pharisees" have not 
changed either; the Fullness of the Holy Ghost 
makes a man the uncompromising friend of God, 
and that certainly involves the enmity of the 
world. "Therefore the world hateth you" (John 
xv. 19). It behooves those who are seeking the 
"Fullness of the Spirit" to remember these facts, 
and to count the cost, for the persecution may 
come from the most unlikely, unlooked for quar- 
ters. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. "In 
the world ye have tribulation: but be of good 
cheei ; I have overcome the world" (John xvi. 33). 



CHAPTER XVI. 

MAY ONE KNOW THAT HE IS FILLED? 

The question is often asked — How am I to know 
when I am filled with the Holy Ghost? 

/. You may " A11 thin g s whatsoever ye pray and 
know itfro?n as fc { QY ^ believe that ye have received 

the testimony 

of the written them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 

Word. . 

xi.24). From this you know, that if you 
have, up to your light, fulfilled the conditions nec- 
essary to the filling of the Holy Ghost, on praying 
and asking for the Fullness, it is your privilege to 
believe that you have received what you have asked 
for; nay, it is your bounden duty, in compliance 
with Christ's express command, so to believe. If 
God gives, and you really receive, you may then 
give thanks, and that proves that you possess, for 
you cannot truly give thanks for what you do not 
possess! It will be noted that this answer is pre- 
cisely similar to the answer that would be given to 
the question — How am I to know that I am saved? 
By simple faith on the testimony of the Word. As 
multitudes have accepted salvation without any 

emotion, without any feeling whatever, so many a 

117 



1J8 "THE MARKS" 

one has accepted by faith the " Fullness of the Holy 
Ghost," without any wave of emotion or feeling 
bearing witness to the fact of the filling. But this 
is not to say that there is never any feeling, that 
the emotions are never stirred; not so, for the feel- 
ings will come in due course, in God's own time. 

2. witness of Again, one may know that the Fullness 
the spirit. hag come by the witness of the infilling 

Spirit. Just as in multitudes of cases the blessed 
Spirit bears witness with the Blood when it is ap- 
plied at the moment of conversion, so many a one 
knows in his inner consciousness the moment when 
the Fullness of the Spirit was bestowed; they felt 
the Incoming and can date their Baptism, as others 
have felt the regenerating change and can date their 
conversion. 

It should also be repeated here, that as many 
are ignorant of the date of their conversion, though 
well assured of the fact, so many may be ignorant 
of the date of their Baptism with the Holy Ghost, 
though well assured that they have entered on the 
blessed life. If we are assured of the fact, that 
we have received the Fullness of the Spirit, we 
need not worry as to dates. 
s signs Foi- ^ et a gain, one may know whether the 

lowing. Fullness has come to his heart and life 
by the signs following, by what "The Men" of 
the North of Scotland would call "the marks." 



MA Y ONE KNOW THA T HE IS FILLED? 119 

Christ's words used in another connection may 
surely be applied in this, "By their fruits ye shall 
know them" (Matt. vii. 20), "The fruit of the 
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentle- 
ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" 
(Gal. v. 22, 23). The fullness of the fruit will 
surely be found where the Fullness of the Spirit 
is. Quantity and quality will both be there. As 
this has already been touched upon when consid- 
ering the effects of the blessing, no more need be 
added here. But this, however, must be clearly 
borne in mind, that, while the Fullness of the 
Spirit is a gift, the fruit of the Spirit is a growth. 
Fruit grows, and the fruit will grow, if only we 
see to it that the conditions are present which are 
favorable to growth. That man does not manifest 
much wisdom who expects full growth without 
attending to the conditions of growth. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

MA Y ONE SA Y THA T HE IS FILLED? 

The question has been raised — Is it right for 
one to say that he is " filled with the Holy Ghost"? 
May this not savor of egotism? John said of 
Jesus — " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world; . . . the same is 
He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit" (John i. 
29, 33). Christ's twofold office here is to u take 
away sin," and "to baptize with the Holy Spirit." 
Each one who knows Christ as the " Sin-bearer" 
should have an experimental acquaintance with 
Him as the "Baptizer" too. Indeed, this alone is 
full salvation. To have sin taken away is but half 
salvation; to be "baptized with the Holy Spirit" 
as well, is to possess full salvation. Now, if Christ 
has taken away a man's sin, may that man not 
know it? Certainly. And if he knows it. may 
he not bear witness to the fact? Nay, does Christ 
not expect him to confess? — to tell what great 
things the Lord hath done for him ? No right- 
thinking pei son would regard it as wrong for a 

120 



TESTIMONY 121 

saved man to confess his Saviour, or would regard 
his confession as egotism. By parity of reason- 
ing, if Christ has baptized a pardoned man with 
the Holy Ghost, may that man not know it? 
Surely! and if he knows it, may he not bear wit- 
ness to the fact? May he not tell what still greater 
things the Lord hath done for him ? Would this 
be wrong? Must this necessarily be egotism? 
At the same time, while it is perfectly scriptural 
for a Spirit-filled man to testify, for Christ's glory, 
as to the Infilling of the Holy Spirit when ques- 
tioned upon it — for we must be careful not to libel 
the grace of God that is in us, and not to grieve 
the Holy Spirit by ignoring Him or His work with- 
in us — one cannot be too careful lest he be found 
casting his " pearls before the swine" (Matt. vii. 
6), and as a rule it will be better in this matter to 
let the life speak rather than the tongue. Indeed 
it will not often be necessary for the Spirit-filled 
man to be questioned on the subject at all; his 
speech will betray him, his manner of life, his 
fruitful service. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

MA Y ONE LOSE THE BLESSING? 

The question trembles from many a lip — \\ I 
get the blessing, may I lose it? Most certainly. 
But, glory be to God! He has made ample pro- 
vision for failure. There is no reason why we 
should fail; God has made ample provision against 
failure; we must not expect to fail; but in case 
we do fail, provision has been made. The most 
prolific cause of loss is disobedience — disobedi- 
ence either to one of God's written commands, or 
to the inward promptings of His Holy Spirit. 
"The Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them 
that obey Him" (Acts v. 32). This all-glorious 
gift is not only obtained but retained in connection 
with obedience. It is absolutely necessary to 
maintain the attitude of complete self-surrender, 
for the slightest act of disobedience — that is, the 
asserting of our own will in opposition to His will 
— may cost us the loss of the blessing, such as, 
neglecting to speak to a man about the great sal- 
vation, or, refusing to give a tract to some one 
when we knew God wanted us to do so. We 

122 



THE WORD OF CHRIST 123 

must learn to be obedient to the promptings of the 
Spirit. "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord" 
(Ps. xxv. 15) must be our constant attitude. 

If we possess the blessing, and desire to retain 
it, there is another matter of the last importance 
that must be attended to, viz., letting "the Word 
of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Col. 
iii. 16). The Spirit-filled man will be a Word- 
filled man. A neglected Bible is responsible for 
much of the lost blessing from which many of 
God's children are suffering to-day. If we would 
retain the blessing in its fullness and freshness, 
we must feed daily and feed much upon Christ as 
He is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. It is 
the function of the indwelling Spirit to take of the 
things of Christ, and to show them unto us (John 
xvi. 14). He does not speak from Himself or of 
Himself, but of Jesus; and so He will be contin- 
ually drawing us to the Word, that He may have 
the opportunity of drawing our attention to fresh 
beauties in Immanuel. There is much so-called 
reading of the Bible that is not "searching the 
Scriptures" (John v. 39), not " delighting in the 
law of the Lord," not " meditating in it day and 
night" (Ps. i. 2), not "letting the Word of Christ 
dwell in y f ou richly -." You cannot live a Spirit- 
filled life, and be content with a shallow, meager 
acquaintance with the Divine Word. The Spirit- 



124 THE LOST BLESSING 

filled man gives God's Book its own proud place, 
the premier place, in all his reading. It is instruct- 
ive to compare the effects of being filled with the 
Spirit and of being filled with the Word. "Be 
filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in 
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing 
and making melody with your heart to the Lord?** 
(Eph. v. 1 8). "Let the word of Christ dwell in 
you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admon- 
ishing one another with psalms and hymns and 
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts 
unto God" (Col. iii. 16). 

Have we then, unhappily, through disobedience 
or neglect, lost the blessing which once we pos- 
sessed? Is there one saying, "Oh that I were as 
in the months of old!"? (Job xxix. 2.) It may 
be "all joy" with you again, for if you have lost 
the blessing, just go back and search for it, and 
you will find it where you lost it! Just there and 
nowhere else. Have you found the spot where 
your obedience failed? Yield and obey just there, 
pick up your obedience where you dropped it, 
and there you may obtain the blessing again as you 
obtained it at the first; but just there and nowhere 
else. An illustration of this is found in 2 Kings vi. 
The Divinit}' Students of those days were going 
down to build a new Divinity Hall on the banks of 
the Jordan, and they asked Elisha, the man of God, 



THE LOST BLESSING 125 

to go with them. The story tells us that as one 
of the students "was felling a beam, the axe-head 
fell into the water; and he cried and said, Alas, 
my master! for it was borrowed. And the man 
of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him 
the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in 
thither; and the iron did swim. And he said, 
Take it up to thee. So he put out his hand and 
took it," and having re-fixed the axe-head on the 
handle, he went on again w r ith his felling (verses 
5-7). Where was it that the student got his lost 
axe-head? Where he lost it! in the very spot where 
it fell into the Jordan's waters — it was just there 
that he found it. So if you lose the blessing, the 
only spot on earth where you need look for it, if 
you wish to take it up to thee again, is the very 
spot where yon lost it. Let us all learn by root 
of heart what the student did not do. After the 
axe-head flew from the handle, he did not continue 
at work chopping with an axe-handle. No; but 
as soon as he lost his axe-head, he stopped till he 
got it on again. Oh that many a Christian worker 
would read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest! 
Then some Sabbaths there might be many a pulpit 
without a preacher, and many a Sabbath School 
class without a teacher, and many a sphere of 
Christian labor without its worker. Why ? where 
are they? Away looking for their axe-heads! 



126 THE LOST BLESSING 

Away to the banks of that river of disobedience, 
in whose sluggish waters they lost them! Alas! 
that there should be so many to-day with an axe- 
handle, trying in this way to fell beams for the 
house of our God! working with the blessing 
lost! Hard labor this, and very little to show 
for it — except earnestness! "And isn't it a fine 
thing to be in earnest?" Yes, but it is a finer to 
have a little of that uncommon thing — homely 
common sense, at the back of the earnestness, and 
the man who is hewing with an axe-handle doesn't 
impress one as being overburdened that way! If 
we have enjoyed and have lost the Fullness of the 
Spirit, let us confess, betake us to the open foun- 
tain and obey, and He will put away our sin; 
and then, let us start afresh, let us come to Him 
again for the Fullness, as at the first, and we will 
find that " He abideth faithful : for He cannot deny 
Himself" (2 Tim. ii. 13). For the sake of the 
Sacred Heart, for His Name's glory, for the sake 
of souls, and for our own sake, we must not, we 
will not try to live and labor without being 

"Filled with the Spirit." 



THE END. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



#1/ 



